Just Another Bloody Secret
by shoyou100
Summary: 15 year old Mikan Sakura gets a part-time job at a well-known company, Alice Corp. There she meets her new boss, Natsume Hyuuga, yet it's not her first time seeing him. Her first time was 235 years ago... Story Currently Under Construction
1. Prologue: Mikan

_Disclaimer: I do NOT own Gakuen Alice. I'm simply borrowing it for a while._

THIS IS DEDICATED TO MIKAN'S POV.

Edit: I have decided to revise my entire story so bear with me on this. Keep your eye on the Prologue chapter for an update on current events.

* * *

Story Update: I will have Chapter 4: This Feeling... done soon.

I'm also going to be changing the way I make breaks in my paragraphs.

So, instead of

Oo

It will be

~~O~~~O~~

Cool, right?

* * *

**Just Another Bloody Secret**

* * *

Prologue

* * *

_So…cold_. I shivered violently and realized that it was snowing. _Snow?_ I thought curiously. _And in the middle of July too._ Something warm dripped on to my hand and I looked down.

_I'm bleeding._

I started to cry. The wound in the side of my body wasn't healing and it hurt so much.

_Where am I? Help me. Help me please. _

And then I realized that I could see. It was nighttime, but in my eyes I could see as if my surroundings were bathed in light. And I realized, with a silent horror, that I was standing before a steep drop. Far below, a river roared fiercely.

A twig snapped from behind me and I spun around with one hand gripping my wound tightly. A familiar green-eyed young man stood there, a cruel smile turning up the corners of his mouth. His smile failed to reach his eyes. As he took in the sight of my weakened body, the smile on his face grew wider and he said softly. "It's over."

My body acted on its own. I just looked at the green-eyed man and then, strangely, I smiled too. He seemed slightly surprised. Then I began to back up slowly, towards the edge of the cliff. One foot after the other.

The man cursed to himself and reached for his belt, desperate to stop me from escaping, and pulled out a silver stake. He launched it at me before I reached the edge and it pierced through my chest.

The young man was suddenly taken down by a dark blur. There was a terrible sound as his limbs were separated from his body and strewn across the floor, staining the snow a dark, rich red. The moonlight caught the figure standing over the chaos, plastered crimson, and it revealed a young man, with scarlet eyes. There was raw rage burning within them and his hands were ruined with the blood of his victim.

And then, I finally felt the pain, a sharp pain in my chest. The stake had met its mark. I heard the young man give a yell of despair. He raced towards me, his eyes filled with helplessness and grief. Why was my heart aching for him so much?

He cried out, "NO!" But it was already too late. The force of the blow had sent me falling backwards over the cliff. Time seemed to stop as I looked at him, my eyes clouded over with sorrow and what seemed to be something much deeper than that.

I whispered two last words to him before I disappeared into the wild waters below.

"I'm sorry."


	2. My Job Interviewer: Mikan

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

THIS IS DEDICATED TO MIKAN'S POV.

* * *

My Job Interviewer

* * *

It was one of those rough, morning awakenings. I _jerked_ awake, flailing blindly for a few moments, before I realized that it was just a dream. Cold sweat dripped down my face as I touched my side, feeling for blood. It had all been a dream. Just a dream.

_Yet the dream felt so real. _

I closed my eyes and leaned back into my pillow. That wasn't the first time I had those dreams. But this one had been the clearest of them all. I shuddered.

The sound of birds came in through my bedroom window and I peeked outside to see the bare branches of the small sakura tree right outside in our small yard. Ojiisan was probably still asleep. After all, he always loved to sleep in on an early Sunday morning.

I considered telling him about my dreams for a moment, but decided against it. Ojiisan was strong, but the reality was he was getting on in years. Talking to him about something like this would only serve to worry him. Groggily, I dragged my feet slowly across the floor to the sliding door. I was the exact opposite of a morning person. In the bathroom, I splashed water on to my face to wake myself up and combed my hair into the usual two ponytails. After changing into a pair of clean clothing, I entered the living room, which also served as our kitchen. The clock said it was exactly 6:03. It was time to make breakfast.

Grandpa woke to an aroma wafting in from the kitchen. "Hmm." He knelt down at the living room table. "Miso again?"

"Sorry, ojiisan," I said apologetically. "We're all out of eggs."

"Oh, then I'll go buy some at the market today."

"No, ojiisan. I can go." I placed two plates on to the table.

"Don't you have that meeting for your job that you need to get to?"

For a moment, I was silent. Then I shouted. "Oh geez! I forgot!" I glanced at the clock only to gape at the time. "It starts at 7:45 and it's 7 something already!" I downed the miso soup in several large gulps, ran over to the doorway, shoved on my shoes and socks, and bolted out the door. I had to come running back, however, when my grandpa yelled after me as usual, saying, "Damn it, Mikan! You forgot your bag again!"

I grabbed my bicycle, hopped on, and began peddling furiously towards the city of Tokyo.

I was brought up without a mother or father. Only ojiisan was there for me. He gave me everything a granddaughter could want, which included food, shelter, and his love. But our recent move must have weakened him a great deal and I knew that one day I would have to take the responsibility of providing for us both. That one day was now. And because I attended a high school nearby our humble one-story house in the rural area near Tokyo, I could only afford to take on a part-time job discreetly, but it was better than nothing.

A big blue building was suddenly within sight. _Yes!_ I thought triumphantly. But then I saw the big clock on it and thought. _Nooooo!_

"I can't be late!" I cried as I peddled faster. Five more minutes. "Not on the day of the interview!" If I gave my interviewer a bad impression, I was going to be rejected on the spot! I was so caught up in my wildly thought-up scenarios that I hadn't been watching what was going on in front of me at all. At the last second, I finally re-focused on what was going on in front of me, but it was too late. "Whaaaaa!" I yelled and tried to brake. "Watch out!"

CRASH!

The impact sent me flying off the bike seat. I shut my eyes waiting for the pain, but there was none. I thought I was going to land on to the hard, concrete ground but something else cushioned my fall. Whatever it was that I landed on, it felt warm, unlike the cold sidewalk, and I felt like I wanted to stay there forever.

That is, until I heard someone say. "Oi, polka dots. Get off me."

My eyes flew open and the first thing they saw were a pair of scarlet eyes. I suddenly felt a dropping feeling in my stomach like I was falling. There was an overwhelming sense of familiarity, like I'd seen him somewhere before. There was just no other-

_But that's impossible_. _I only just met him. _

But I did meet him before. In a dream. And the intensity in his eyes were still the same.

"You know, getting off me would be a _really_ good idea right now." He said calmly, as if someone running him over with a bicycle was something that happened everyday.

I was rather shocked at his rudeness. _Maybe the heat's getting to me__. This can't be the same person from my dream. _"I'm sorry." I said, perhaps a little reluctantly, as I got up and began brushing myself off. Then I proferred a hand but he ignored it and got up himself. _Oh, fine._ I thought vehemently. I glared at him and he glared right back. The bicycle lay forgotten on the sidewalk. Finally, after a couple minutes of locking eyes intensely, I suddenly remembered my interview.

"Oh no! My job interview!" And I reached down to lift my bicycle upright, but then I noticed the flat tire. "What?" I yelled again outraged. "How did that happen?"

"The force of your hit must've been too much for it, polka dots." Said the scarlet-eyed man.

"Polka dots?" He had called me that earlier but I had been too caught up in my thoughts. I stared at him confused for a minute or two, before it dawned on me. "You perverted molester!" I cried.

He just looked at me nonchalantly and said. "A molester is someone who does something because they have dirty intentions. Now why would I ever want to have those kinds of intentions with you?"

I stared at him in disbelief and that was when something snapped inside of me. "You know what! That bike was my one chance of getting to my interview on time. I need money. I need a job. If I don't get either of those, my ojiisan might get more sick!" Then my voice was reduced to a whisper. "And now, because of you, I'm late and they may never accept me." I was breathing harder than I wanted to admit. Finished, I picked up my broken bike and wheeled it over to a nearby bike stand and chained it there.

"So, this is how someone treats their interviewer?" I thought I heard something strained in his voice.

I looked behind me in confusion. "What?"

"That's right," He said with a smirk. "Today I'm scheduled to interview a girl that goes by the name of one Mikan Sakura. And I believe you are her?"

I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks. _Oh kami-sama. _I pleaded inside my head._ Please don't tell me this is really happening._

"Well?" he waited for an answer, but I remained silent. "Tch. Then if you aren't, you have no business here because there are no other interviews scheduled for today. So you might as well lea-" He was about to walk past me.

"NO!" I shouted suddenly and put myself in his path. "I'm Mikan Sakura, age 14 ¾, student of Shotoku High, ID# 10293847 and I'm here for my job interview!" I had said all of this in one breath, so I was left breathing heavily again afterwards. When I looked up to meet his eyes, I saw something pass through them that left me feeling uncomfortable.

"Very well, Sakura." He said, suddenly speaking like the perfect business man. "You're excused for being late for now. I understand, as there have been certain _difficulties_ for both of us today. We will talk later in the office."

I had to stop up the overflow of questions I wanted to ask, for something in his eyes told me to keep quiet until we got to our destination. So, instead, I replied obediently, "Yes, shachou." If not a little sarcastically.

* * *

**Shachou**: Boss

**Ojiisan**: Grandpa

**Sakura Trees**: In Tokyo, Sakura trees bloom around the month of April and finish their bloom in about a week.

**Shotoku: **Literally translates to "income".

**Natsume's Definition of Molestation: **Based this off the one in the anime :)


	3. An Unfortunate Predicament: Mikan

DISCLAIMER: If Gakuen Alice were mine, I wouldn't be writing this fic :)

THIS IS DEDICATED TO MIKAN'S POV.

* * *

An Unfortunate Predicament

* * *

I was sitting in his office on top a stiff and uncomfortable chair. He was shuffling some papers on his desk and filing them away into a cabinet. The silence bothered me. I wasn't used to staying quiet for so long. When he finally finished, I was already fidgeting significantly in my seat.

"Oi, baka." He said, unsmiling. "Don't tell me you've already lost focus. If this is how you're going to be during work, then you won't last long here."

I was about to snap back. But then I remembered the urgency of the situation and bit my lip to fight back the words that threatened to come spilling out.

He smirked at my effort. "My name is Natsume Hyuuga and I will be deciding whether you can continue to stay in this building or not."

I opened my mouth then closed it again, unsure of what to say to that. "Yes, Hyuuga-san." I saw him wince slightly when I said that. _Gotcha._

"And here I thought you were smart enough to call someone as according to their status." He said mockingly.

"The only status higher than your's is that of the president's. You're no president." I said hotly, unable to control myself.

"I am."

That shut me up faster than anything else. Why was the president of the entire company interviewing _me_ of all people!

He seemed amused at my reaction. "Now that you understand what kind of power I hold over this company, are you going to give up? Or run away?" He looked serious all of a sudden when he spoke this and I couldn't look him in the eye in those last few moments.

I shook my head no, avoiding eye contact. "It doesn't matter who interviews me." I forced myself to look up again. "An interview is an interview." My mouth felt dry. I was more than nervous and sweat was starting to gather in the palms of my hands.

He gave me a long look, which somehow caused my face to burn in embarrassment. Finally, he said, "Fine, then let's go over your history…"

"So," Hyuuga said, sounding disinterested now. He had my job application placed in front of him, which he had only just finished perusing. "You don't have _any _experience in working a computer, let alone how to type. And you've only attended high school for about a year. Let me tell you this. At Alice Corp, we set certain standards that we expect everyone to meet. We don't give a job to just anybody."

"I'll do my best!" I said in as determined a voice I could muster.

"Your _best_ might not be enough," Hyuuga replied harshly. "But we'll give it a try and see how long you last in our company, polka dots."

"Stop calling me polka dots, you pervert!" I retorted instinctively, only to realize my mistake. My eyes widened in fear and I went silent so I could wait for him cut me down with sharp words.

"I'm afraid you can't say that to your shachou." he said calmly.

"Shachou?" For a whole minute, I couldn't believe my ears. "That means I'm in? You're giving me the job?" My face broke into my first real smile today. Without waiting for him to reply to my question, I practically rocketed out of my seat in pure happiness and joy. I might as well have been yelling 'I love my life' at the top of my lungs and dancing around extensively in the middle of my new shachou's office.

"Tch. Whatever, polka dots."

At his words, I stopped to look at him. He was looking away and was...was he blushing?

"Oi, what're you staring at, baka?"

I was about to reply when the door behind me suddenly flew open and somebody burst into the room shouting, "Natsume! We have an unscheduled meeting with the shachou from the AAO in about 10 minutes!"

I chose that moment to give a small yell in late reaction. In turn, I startled the man who just came in and he gave a shout of his own.

"Ignore her, Ruka, and stay here." Said my shachou, standing up from behind his desk. "I'm going downstairs. Make sure she doesn't get into any trouble." He nodded towards me then walked past the man named Ruka. _  
_

And he was gone. Just like that. I stared after him at the closed door, unable to believe the number of events that had occurred in the matter of one hour.

"So... you just got accepted into our company, right? Well, welcome to Alice Corp, Ms. Mikan."

"That shachou." I fumed. "He hires me and then he leaves me here. All in one go! Just how does he do it?"

"Um, Ms. Mikan?"

"Polka dots...Noooo, now I'll never be able to date anyone ever again!"

"Ms. Mika-"

"I'll be single for the rest of my life!"

"MIKAN SAKURA!"

"Aah! I'm so sorry!" I apologize profusely to the frazzled man before me.

"It's alright, Mikan." He sighed wearily.

"Wait a minute," I gave him a suspicious look. "I never told you my name. Are you...are you a stalker?" I was horrified at the possibility.

He winced visibly. Maybe I _was_ a little blunt. But then he smiled at me and said. "Don't worry. I can tell you I'm not. I heard a little bit about you from Natsume so I took a look at your application."

"And your name is Ruka?"

"Ruka Nogi. It's nice to meet you, Mikan Sakura."

I took a good look at him. With his blonde hair and blue eyes, he looked like a foreigner, except his Japanese was good. I felt calm and peaceful around him, which I could only conclude was due to his gentle demeanor.

"You mentioned the AAO earlier. What kind of company is it?" For some reason unknown to me, I felt vaguely uncomfortable even saying its name.

"Well, they're a shareholder company like us, about as well-known as Alice Corp," Ruka explained. "The competition between us can get intense. But recently, the old shachou of the company retired, though I'm not sure why. He was a perfectly capable man. And a new shachou took over. This shachou offered an opportunity to combine the two companies together."

I suddenly felt an urge to see the new shachou. It was some insane curiosity, but I couldn't deny it. "Let's go down and listen to what they have to say."

"What?" said Ruka, obviously against it. "No wait, you can't do that. They're going to have a really important meeti-."

"If you aren't going, then I am!" I made as if to open the door.

"Mikan!" He placed himself bodily in front of me. "I can't let you do that. The meeting doesn't concern you-"

"Please!" I suddenly started begging him. "I have this feeling. I know this sounds crazy, but I _need_ to listen in on this. It's just this feeling..."

"No..." Ruka replied, but I could tell his tough facade was starting to fail him. "N-no...no...n- okay fine you can go."

"Yes!" I already had the door open and was halfway outside when I realized something. "Um, about the meeting. Where is it?"

Ruka rubbed his temples and groaned. "If you're so determined. They're on the second floor, in the meeting room."

"How do I know which one's the meeting room?"

"The one with the star."

I smiled widely at him and said. "Thanks."

"You- you welcome." He stuttered and blushed. Was my smile really that embarrassing to look at?

I turned to leave and was almost at the elevator when he suddenly called after me, "Wait!"

"What?" I asked nervously, afraid he changed his mind.

"Natsume told me to take care of you. I can't let you go by yourself." He said loyally.

I blinked at him, then nodded. I couldn't help but smile. "Sure."

We entered the elevator and I pressed the button for the 2nd floor. The shachou's office was on the top floor, which was the 26th. This building was taller than I first anticipated. Why were there only 26 floors? Did someone decide to stop four floors before they hit thirty? Suddenly, the elevator shut down and the lights flickered out. It was pitch black.

I was filled with immediate fear. And so I called out the first name that came to mind, "Ruka-pyon!"

"Ruka-pyon?" His voice sounded slightly amused.

"Now is _not_ the time to be funny!" I shouted, desperate to get out of here. "It's so dark. I can't see anything." And despite my best efforts to remain calm, my throat started to constrict and my breathing grew shallow. The dark. It was all encompassing and I felt like I was disappearing into it. Suddenly, I remembered the dream of the cold night. The cold, green eyes. And the blood. All that blood.

"I...Mikan!" I felt arms take both my shoulders and shake them. Ruka was trying to snap me out of it, but I was still caught up in my terror.

Then, in my confusion, I unexpectedly felt something warm embrace me and realized that Ruka had wrapped his arms around me in reasurrance. This kind of physical contact calmed me almost immediately.

In the embrace, I knew it was safe. I knew it was warm. And so I relaxed, my arms resting limply by my sides, my head lying against his chest.

_I wish I had a big brother like him._

My breathing slowed and the fear ebbed away. "Thank you." I whispered. And then I began to feel light-headed and weak.

As my legs gave way from beneath me, I had one last thought in my mind.

_When will help come?_

* * *

**Ruka-pyon**: Pyon is the sound a rabbit makes (Japanese rabbits :D). Ruka was known early on in the manga for carrying around a rabbit. And so, the nickname came to be.

**Blue Eyes and Blonde Hair:** Ruka's mother is French.

**AAO:** Anti-Alice Organization. It is ironic that this is the rival company of Alice Corps :).


	4. A Complication: Natsume

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

This chapter begins several minutes before Mikan and Ruka are stuck in the elevator.

THIS IS DEDICATED TO NATSUME'S POV.

* * *

**A Complication**

* * *

How many years had it been since I'd felt this way? Torn between feeling absolute disbelief at what I'd seen and incredible happiness at her return, I wasn't sure what to think.

_Mikan Sakura. Where have you been all this time? You haven't aged a day since I last saw you._

Silently, I entered the hallway of the 2nd floor from the stairwell.

Mikan did not remember anything. That much was certain. But that hadn't stopped my heart from flaring when I had seen the barest hint of recognition in her eyes after seeing my face. If she didn't remember me, was she unable to remember her lineage? There was no other conclusion I could draw.

Mikan believed, with all her heart, that she was human. And her scent told me that, with the current status of her body, her genetic make-up truly was human. There was no way she could've achieved this alone. Other forces were at work.

I stiffened upon nearing the meeting room. _This aura was much too familiar._

He heard me before he saw me, as was the case with all those with abilities like ours. Likewise, I could hear the sound of several mouths breathing in and out from behind the door. Their heartbeats were even and controlled. I estimated three people in the room. Two of them were human and properly trained for a special kind of situation. My situation. The last one was...

I pushed the door open and registered his scent immediately. Overwhelming hatred suddenly swept over my entire being.

_This scent-!_

"Hello there. You don't know how _long_ I've been waiting to meet the infamous Natsume Hyuuga." A young man lounged on one of two couches in the meeting room. Two men in black stood silently behind him. The man's viridian eyes met mine and it was all I could do to keep my face from twisting in rage.

235 long years.

_I killed you, Akiri. You're supposed to be dead. _But perhaps, in my rage, I had forgotten to crush his heart. After all, I had only removed his limbs.

"Yes, it's a _pleasure _to meet you, Akiri." _So I can send you to hell for good this time. _

"Sugoishi. I'd prefer if you remember that." He all but leered.

"How long did it take you to come up with a new name? Five minutes?"

His eyes narrowed and I immediately began assessing the two men standing behind him.

The men behind the couch were trained, as well as human, which could only lead to one of several conclusions. They were hunters. If so, then Akiri had access to these kinds of people, despite being the very being these hunters sought to kill. The barest glint of silver could be seen lining their uniforms. As a part of their profession, they carried no guns. Somewhere on their bodies, they carried their trademark weapon. Stakes. The men held themselves as if expecting a frontal attack from me at any moment.

It couldn't have been closer to the truth.

"Have you come here just to introduce yourself to me?" I asked, without betraying any intentions in my voice. "If that's all, then we're done here. There's more important business I need to attend to." Now we could cut to the chase. What he was really here for was...

"Natsume, Natsume. So impatient as always." He casually stood up, dusting himself off as if the couch had somehow dirtied him. "You need to cool off that temper of yours."

"Unlike some people, I understand the importance of being a shachou." I could feel the battle was coming. Every pore of my body was brimming with energy.

And then he asked something that made my blood run cold, "Then, what about the girl?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I had to feign ignorance. How else would he tell me what he knew?

"We could stand here all day and you'd still deny plain fact. You _reek_ of her scent. How can that smell be so great? I know!" And here he sneered. "You _touched _her didn't you?"

Out of all his words, those last ones pierced me the most.

"I must meet her sometime," he continued. "After all, she's right here in this building isn't she?"

"Don't test me, Akiri."

At that moment, he decided to take several steps forward so we were less than a foot apart. Like me, he was calm and composed. His eyes, however, betrayed the deep hatred within. And I knew why. I just wanted to kill him too much to care.

The battle began when he signaled to the hunters and the two men took out their stakes. And then Akiri was gone, a sharp wind blowing at my feet from where he used to be. I wasn't surprised. After all, I _let_ him go. Killing him wouldn't be enough.

These hunters would regret ever coming between me and Akiri.

I closed my eyes. There was the immediate sound of running footsteps and I put up one hand. The stake meant for my eyes was caught in one move. Footsteps automatically came from the side and I lashed out with a foot. There was a grunt as the second hunter blocked the blow.

I opened my eyes again. The first stage of Wrath allowed my eyes to shift to a deeper red, to represent blood lust, pupils slit like a snake, representing a heightening of all senses. To finish the transformation, my canine teeth extended to touch my bottom lip. By then the hunters had backed away, for they knew exactly how dangerous I had become. And the only thing that could kill me was to destroy my heart. _Completely._

In a flash, I was behind one of the hunters. They were trained to fight people like me, but this one was still an amateur. A skilled hunter would've brought a gun and would've known that only concentrated silver, found in crosses and special bullets, could truly defeat me. I broke his neck cleanly, wasting little time to bear down on his partner. Little did I know his death would weigh heavily on my conscious only seconds later.

Leaping back, the remaining hunter brandished his stake, holding it like it was a shield that could protect him from me.

"Please," he begged. "Don't kill me."

The way he said it, in such a pathetic and pitiful way, struck me in the heart. I felt something shift inside my chest and then I saw Mikan in my mind. She was crying and begging me to stop, begging me not to kill unless it was absolutely necessary. The Mikan who begged this of me in my mind was same as the one from all those years ago, as well as the one who had appeared before me today. I had no doubt in my heart now that that girl was truly the one I had loved so long ago.

I relented and stepped back. How disappointed she'll be when she finds out I had already killed one man.

The hunter who had been begging me only moments ago suddenly leaped forward to drive the stake through my chest.

_Mikan. I love you so much. _I blocked the hunter's attempt at killing me. Then struck him in the chest, breaking through skin and bone until I reached his heart. Encircling it with my hand, I crushed it while it was still beating and dropped the body on to the floor. _But I need to stay alive so I can keep seeing you._

I had a faint hope that Mikan would never have to see me under the effects of Wrath, but such a wish was too good to be true. There were three known stages of Wrath and I had only ever broken the second one. If the time ever came for the third…

Suddenly, there was a buzz of electricity and all lights in the room went off.

* * *

~~O~~~O~~

* * *

Akiri threw the severed wires on to the ground as he continued walking towards the stairway.

His eyes no longer green, Akiri smiled to himself. It had been a long time since he'd had to use Wrath. Or perhaps not too long ago. After all, the previous shachou of the AAO had put up quite a fight. What was his name again? Ah, yes. Had Kanbu really been such an idiot as to believe he could be stopped with a simple stone conversion Realization? The man had been weaker than him to begin with. And if Akiri could overcome a man such as Mihara Kanbu with ease, then breaking Natsume Hyuuga's will a second time would pose even less of a problem.

At the very least, the two rogue hunters he'd hired would stall him for some time. He sneered and quickened his pace upon reaching the stairwell.

_Let's have a race, Natsume-kun._

* * *

~~O~~~O~~

* * *

The walls of the hallway were a blur as I hurtled past. Using the emergency stairwell, I reached the 26th floor in a matter of seconds. Later, I would call myself a fool for not catching Mikan's scent in the air and realizing then that she was no longer in my office.

The first thing I had seen was my office door standing ajar.

"_No_," I whispered. "Mikan." I wanted to let out a roar of frustration. It was happening all over again! I would walk in and the walls would be covered in Mikan's blood, while I become too late to save her, once again.

Throwing all caution to the wind, I shoved the door aside only to find the room empty.

I breathed both with relief and exasperation. She hadn't listened to me, but at least she was safe.

The doubled-paned window behind my desk, with a generous view of Tokyo, was flung wide open, erasing all traces of scent in the room. It also served as a clever decoy as to where Akiri had gone.

"It's no use hiding." I said, facing the open window. "I know you're here."

There was a hiss of anger from behind me and I immediately caught the fist that nearly dislocated my shoulder. Akiri suddenly turned to aim a kick at my ribs, causing me to grunt in pain.

I twisted his hand, throwing him off balance, before landing a devastating blow to his temple with my elbow. He was stunned for less than a second but it was enough for me to trip him so he fell on his back. I was about to place on hand on his heart to show that he was finished until he pulled out a gun and aimed for my heart.

The gun went off. Silenced, it made about as much sound as a door slam. I swept to one side as the bullet shot by, though it managed to catch me in a part of my chest, more than a fraction away from his true was only one way to kill our species, but more than one way to disable them. I gasped and touched the wound to see that it refused to regenerate, which meant the bullet was made of silver.

"Isn't that a hunter's gun?" I grunted out.

Akiri stood up and faked a shot, which I reacted to like he wanted. He moved quickly so he was between me and the open window.

"Not so easy now is it?" Akiri laughed. "I borrowed this gun from a hunters' organization in Europe, though I suppose it's mine now since the owner's dead. The organizations here in Japan are too poorly funded to afford guns that can kill us. Now wasn't it easy to defeat those hunters earlier?"

I wanted to utterly destroy this man before me. We both knew, however, who was going to come out victorious from this battle. I was a different man from the last time we'd met and he had committed the worst mistake of underestimating me. "Tell me, Akiri, have you been consorting with the very people who try to kill you in your sleep? Perhaps I was wrong to consider you an enemy when you obviously can no longer afford to stand on your own."

His face paled significantly and I knew I had his utmost attention.

I continued, letting my words dig into his very core. "Even after all these years, you still haven't changed. You've been beaten already, Akiri. I'm different from when we were both just beginning to walk this world. The girl changed me. Her _supposed death _changed me. But you…" I paused before delivering the final blow. "You're still the small child since three hundred years ago. You're still a _coward._"

He lost it then. Slit pupils dilating, Akiri entered the second stage of Wrath. In a scream of rage he flew at me, fangs bared, gun forgotten.

"HYUUGA!" He roared.

"You're mine, Akiri." I whispered before locking with Akiri in brutal combat. And then I entered Wrath's second stage as well.

_I… _

His ribs cracked under a savage blow. Blood fell on to my hair, my face, and my clothes. My heart raced with the beauty of it all.

_Mikan, I promise…_

He was roaring in pain and wrenching at my arm. It was latched on to his neck. His neck cracked, but it wasn't broken yet. Not yet. I'm not done yet. Gripping his neck hard, I threw him violently into the bookshelf, cracking it in half.

"How does it feel, Akiri?" I spat. I was so bitter. My words sounded wild even to my own ears. "How does it feel to be even more pathetic that you already are?" I laughed without humor. Something inside me called out then. Something told me to stop.

And then, I heard the full words of a memory in my mind.

_Mikan, I promise to refrain from using all my power until the time comes._

I took a step back, numbed, allowing Akiri to get back to his feet.

"Don't tell me you're remembering about her again. Things were just going too well," he spat, though this time he did not get the reaction he wanted from me.

"We're done here, Akiri. Go back."

Akiri's face flushed in unresolved fury. "What do you mean '_go back_'? Finish it! Finish what you started!"

"I didn't start anything, Akiri. You did. Why are you here? Are you trying to take her from me again?" I spoke so harshly my words came out as a hiss. "Or were you expecting an easy win if you challenged me?"

Akiri laughed, though it was cold and humorless. "I wanted to give you a warning, Natsume-kun." I narrowed my eyes at his familiar use of my name. "Your days of peace are over. Things are going to start happening, whether you choose it or not. No one, not even your little _Mikan_, is safe from it." Akiri smiled then and I wanted so much to kill him all over again, though we both knew that in the end I wouldn't go through with it. I promised her I wouldn't.

"Then if you aren't going to stop me, I'll be going. Good bye, Natsume. I have the feeling we'll be meeting again soon."

And, before I could stop him, he stepped back and leaped out the open window. Seconds before he fell from sight, he gave me one last look of triumph; after all, he'd achieved what he'd come here to do.

I watched as Akiri landed elegantly on his feet on the concrete below, before stumbling slightly from injury. A sleek, silver Mercedes with tinted windows immediately pulled up next to him. It was most likely the more advanced AMG model, but what the hell was I doing thinking about what kind of car he drove?

I turned away from the window once the car was out of sight, though it still wasn't out of mind. Suddenly, there was the crackle of electricity as the lights flickered back to life.

_Narumi..._ It looked like he fixed things in time, but that was part of his job anyways.

A moment before I left my office behind, I remembered something. Taking two fingers, I dug into my chest and took out the single silver bullet that had managed to hit me. Narumi would look at it later. For now, all that was left was to meet Ruka at the elevator. And the man better have Mikan with him.

* * *

~~O~~~O~~

* * *

The lights turned on and there was the whir of machinery as the elevator readjusted itself to continue on its journey to the 2nd floor.

"Quick!" cried Mikan. "Press the cancel button! I just have this really bad feeling we should be getting back to the office right about now. We've wasted too much time in this elevator!"

"Weren't you unconscious a minute ago?" Ruka asked incredulously.

"That doesn't matter! What does is going back to the 26th floor!"

What had actually happened, however, was that the unfortunate duo ended up spending more than a minute riding an elevator up and down the building of Alice Corps.

"Finally!" Mikan cried in triumph as the number twenty-six appeared on the screen. The doors opened and Mikan began stepping out. "Kami-sama, we're here. Now let's get back before the shachou notices-"

"Before I notice what?"

And there the shachou stood with his arms crossed.

* * *

~~O~~~O~~

* * *

Relief spread throughout my body when she stepped out of the elevator looking perfectly fine, but I showed none of it.

"Natsume!" cried Ruka in an effort to feign ignorance. "What are you doing here? What about the meeting?"

"It finished a few minutes ago. Ruka, I need to talk to you later. But first, _you_," I pointed at the girl gaping like a fish. "You're coming with me. We still have unfinished business." I turned to lead her away.

"Natsume!" Ruka called after me. "What do you need me to do?" The look he gave me told me he knew something besides a blackout had happened. He could smell the blood after all.

"Ruka," I spoke over one shoulder. "Send one of the cleaners to fix the bookshelf in my office. It appears to have collapsed. And send another one to the meeting room. There's a mess to be cleaned up."

He nodded without a word and I continued on my way.

"This place is nice." She sat hesitantly on to the couch in the new room. "So the bookshelf in your office collapsed? That must've been terrifying! Good thing you weren't there when it did." She continued to look around the room some more. What was so fascinating about the place to her anyway?

"Are you going to sit while your shachou stands?" It was nothing short of amusing to watch her react immediately to my words with a blush and shoot up to her feet from where she sat.

"I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"

I felt my corners of my lips curl ever so slightly and I turned my head away from her. "It was a joke, Ms. Sakura. Sit down." She did. Did my tone of voice surprise her? Her face was still a beet red.

"You changed."

I immediately turned to look at her in surprise. "What did you say?"

"You changed your shirt." She said and I relaxed. My heart had raced unnecessarily for a moment there. I had simply misunderstood her words.

"I'm surprised someone like you actually noticed."

She huffed and bit her lip, definitely in an attempt to bite back the words I knew she had to say.

Mikan Sakura. This was who she is. I turned my head away again to hide a real smile.

* * *

**-kun**: Used after the name of either a boy or young child

**Hunters' Organization**: It is a group of individuals sworn to police the activities of unnatural species; their targets range from a number of a different monster groups, though the most popular group targetted is the vampire. Often, hunters go rogue, acting more like mercenaries than an organization.

**Mercedes-AMG**: Created separately from regular mercedes, these cars are made to be more expensive and high-tech.

**Wrath**: There are three known stages of Wrath. The first stage is the basic transformation of the body: slit pupils, elongated fangs, red eyes. The second stage is a rise in violence: the use of fear, which causes the slit pupils to dilate, increases adrenaline. The need for blood becomes greater, resulting in many users of the second stage becoming prone to extreme personality changes. The third stage is the first level of insanity: usage of this stage often results in heavy consequences both to the user and to those around them. Akiri is the only one known by Natsume to have reached this stage and is still alive. Akiri's past with Natsume will be explained in later chapters.

**The Name of Akiri Sugoishi**: The more common name is Akira. I wanted, however, to make the "A" and "I". Simple as that. His last name doesn't really mean anything in particular, just a few hiragana I thought sounded good together.


	5. This Feeling: Mikan

DISCLAIMER: Not. Do. Own. I. Gakuen Alice.

This is dedicated to Mikan's POV.

* * *

This Feeling…

* * *

I thought I saw something on his face, but I couldn't be sure.

Sure his lips twitched every now and then, but a smile? Come on. Who would believe that? I scolded myself for thinking about something so stupid. There was no way the shachou just smiled at me for no apparent reason at all.

"Mikan." He caught my attention immediately with just my name. I wanted to touch my stomach, which was suddenly filled with butterflies. Why did I feel so excited just from hearing my name being called?

"Y...yes?" I was so surprised at this sudden sensation that I stuttered. I coughed into my fist. "Ahem. I mean, yes?"

He watched me for a moment.

"What is it? Do I have something on my face?" I touched my cheek to check just in case.

"No. Nothing."

"Oh, okay." I wanted to say something, anything to break this silence!

"I want you to meet a woman named Agano in the lobby. I will give her a call and she'll have everything you need to start your job here. That is all I wanted to tell you." He turned to leave, much to my disbelief. _That_ was _it_?

"Wait...wait!" I stood up, my hands in fists. "Then why didn't you just tell me back there? At the elevator? There was no need for this!" I walked forward angrily.

How could he just stand there looking at me like that, like he didn't know what I was talking about? Why did he have to do things that confused me outright?

I confronted him and came closer until his face was less than twelve inches away.

And that was when I realized my mistake.

"Why..." I wasn't even sure what I was trying to say anymore. Suddenly, my mind became aware of how close I was to him and, strangely, my head started to hurt.

At first, it came as a light throb, then it increased in intensity.

"No!" I cried.

"Mikan! What..." I saw him bring one hand out to catch me, but that was all.

I was already unconscious by then.

* * *

~~O~~~O~~

* * *

My lungs were screaming for air. I was sinking.

Too cold.

My body...why did it sting so much? The water...

So cold, so so cold.

Was I awake? Was I asleep? Either way, I was certain of one thing.

I was drowning. Because I didn't know how to swim.

Panic set in and I screamed silently in my watery prison. The surface! I could see it, but I was too weak to kick up. Please...

Then I saw a dark figure dive in, parting the water with such force that he shot towards me like an arrow.

Who...? I knew it was a boy, but who...?

Then my dream started to fall apart and the scene became blurry.

Wait! I cried out noiselessly. What about the boy! I have to see his face!

But...

Even though I couldn't see his features in the end...

His arms encircled me before the dream ended and that was all I wanted to remember.

* * *

~~O~~~O~~

* * *

_"Sakura…Sakura..." _

Stop, I'm trying to sleep. Go away.

I wanted to see the boy in my dream again. He was someone I knew well. He was someone I wanted to see again!

_"Sakura..." _But then again, the voice sounded familiar as well. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to-

"Wake up."

The voice was so commanding that I immediately obeyed.

"Okay, oka- OW!"

I forced myself to get up only to crack my head against something really hard.

And then I found myself peering into the irritated face of the shachou.

"Dammit! Do you have to yell?" He demanded me angrily, rubbing his ear.

"But what about your face?" Hadn't I _head-butted_ him?

And then I noticed the red spot on his chin where the top of my skull probably made contact.

I found myself staring at that spot for a long time. The room was quiet for a moment.

Then I began to snicker. I tried to hold everything in, but it was too late and, much my own inner horror…I burst out laughing right in my employer's face.

It just came out on its own, never seeming to stop. I laughed so hard that I had to clutch my sides to keep from bowling over. I laughed until I cried tears. My body racked with shivers of delight.

It all lasted about several minutes. Slowly, the laughter died off and I began wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Finished?" came the shachou's voice, unchanging.

"Yeah." I said, after making sure I wasn't about to have another laughing fit. Then I looked up at him suspiciously. "What were you doing so close to me anyway? You weren't trying anything funny, were you?"

To my utter disbelief, he actually broke eye contact and looked away. Had I been right!

"You were moving a lot a little in your sleep after _fainting_ right in front of me. I was trying to wake you up. What else do you expect me to do?"

"Yeah...right." I said, not really believing him.

"Oi, you okay now?"

I stopped thinking for a moment to stare at him again. "What shachou says 'Oi'?"

"I do." Then he reached forward to feel my forehead for a fever.

I shivered. His hand was warm_._

Then I suddenly remembered the arms latching on to me in my dream.

"Ah..." I began, while getting to my feet unsteadily. Should I ask him?

"What is it?" He seemed willing enough. I decided it wouldn't hurt.

"Have we...met before? I mean, a long time ago. I know this sounds stupid, but... I just have this feeling..."

I waited for an answer or maybe even to be called stupid, but all I received was silence. He just stood there staring at me like he couldn't believe I had the ability to talk.

Then he opened his mouth as if to say something. "You-"

"Natsume, Mikan! Would you like some take-out? I bought too many so you can have a few." Ruka burst into the room good-naturedly with several boxes occupying his arms.

An incredibly murderous look crossed Hyuuga's face and, for some reason, I wondered if Ruka might just burst into flames on the spot.

Ruka's voice was completely innocent when he asked, "Oh, have I interrupted something?"


	6. Do You Remember? : Natsume

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

This is dedicated to Natsume's POV and takes place right around the time Mikan faints.

Enjoy.

* * *

**Do You Remember?**

* * *

I caught her before she fell.

Her body was so light. Did she not have enough to eat at home?

I found myself thinking this without even meaning to as I laid her on the couch.

She remembered something. I couldn't think of any other reason why else she could've fainted so suddenly.

Her face had turned so pale when she came near and it was because of me.

Why hadn't I stopped her? Would she remember _everything_? Or was her mind so reluctant to have its memories back that it caused her to lose consciousness?

Then Mikan stopped breathing.

* * *

~~O~~~O~~

* * *

Just what was he doing here?

Ruka found himself thinking this as he stood in line to order food at the Chinese Restaurant.

A Chinese Restaurant in Japan. The city had really changed since the second world war.

"Agh..." Sighed Ruka exasperatedly. "I wish I asked Mikan if she was even hungry."

The office and meeting room were being taken care of. But what about Mikan? How was Natsume taking care of her?

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and Ruka knew, deep down inside, he was hurting. But why?

The past was blurry and unclear.

"Sir?" asked the girl at the register. "Are you ready with your order?"

Ruka spoke without looking away from the menu on the wall. "Yes, yes. I'd like one of each kind of noodle."

The girl raised an eyebrow. Despite how handsome this customer was, no one ever ordered that much.

Ruka eventually noticed she still hadn't rung him yet and he added quickly, "I have a lot of friends."

She still looked at him suspiciously, but she took his word for it. After all, he looked like he had the money to pay for it all anyway.

As Ruka waited for his large order, his mind was filled with many questions. All of them about his past.

Yes, he met Mikan a long time ago. But, why couldn't he remember how she ended up separating from them?

What had happened? If only he could remember.

* * *

~~O~~~O~~

* * *

What was I doing?

My lips were inches away form hers, ready to perform CPR. If I had used my hands to pump her stomach, several of her ribs would break and the bone could shatter and pierce several of her organs.

But if I left her as she was-

She suddenly gasped in her sleep and time seemed to freeze. Then she sucked in a long breath like she was taking a breath while swimming. And exhaled.

Relief washed over me when I felt the soft puffs of air coming from her nose once more. However, the relief was short-lived. I realized, probably for the first time, that our lips were touching.

No!

If I did this to her now, then-!

It was like being torn in two. My mind and body were at odds with one another and I loathed the sensation. It had been so long since I felt so much conflict in making a simple decision like this.

And then, for the first time in more than two centuries, I did what my mind demanded me not to do.

I kissed her.

Then I placed one knee on the edge of the couch so that I didn't have to bend over so much to reach her lips. One traitorous hand slid under her head to pull her further into me.

Yes, these lips were as familiar to me as when I had first kissed them so long ago. This was the girl I knew.

But she didn't know me.

She couldn't remember.

I broke apart from her at that new, debilitating thought.

"Sakura..." I whispered. My voice sounded desperate even to my own ears. Was this what I was reduced to?

"Sakura…Sakura wake up."

Her mouth opened before her eyes did.

"Okay, oka-" And then she sat up fast, catching me off guard.

Her head hit me with as much force as a little human girl could manage, which surprised me. I had expected for her to dislocate my jaw, but her head bounced harmlessly off my chin. She probably left a mark, though.

"OW!" Her voice was something else completely, however.

My head felt like it split in half "DAMMIT! My ear!"

"Wait, what about your face?"

Before I could answer her, however, I noticed the strange look that suddenly occupied her face.

She just looked at me. Then one side of her mouth started to curl up into a smile as she snickered. Her face gradually became more and more strained, clearly displaying her efforts to hold back her laughter. Until, finally, it was too late.

She almost collapsed against the couch under the force of her mirth.

Was she laughing at _me_? Or at what I said?

This girl was just so confusing sometimes, but... that was what brought me to her in the first place.

"You done yet?"

"Yeah."

Her next words left me fishing for words.

"What were you doing so close to me, anyway? You weren't trying anything funny, were you?"

The question seemed a reasonable thing to ask so I couldn't find a way to not answer. _She has no idea what happened while she was asleep._ My cheeks grew hot as I recalled that incident, which had occured not too long ago. "Oh, so you think I'd just continue to let you sleep while you flailed around like a dying fish? I still don't get how anyone can fall asleep so fast." _Like I would ever tell you what really happened. It's a secret I'll take to the grave._

"Genes probably. And as for the flailing, well… you _could_ call it a nightmare." She shuddered slightly. It was a small reaction, but enough to alert me.

_How bad was it? Is she starting to remember...? _I immediately denied it myself. _I must be a bigger fool than I thought._

"Hey, do you have a fever or something?" My mind was working rather strangely these days. I felt her forehead in order to own up to what I just said. However, the second my hand touched her skin, that tingling feeling came again. It started small but eventually spread throughout my entire body, all from making the slightest contact. I struggled to act natually this time when pulling away.

"Ano…" came her voice, unexpectedly timid this time.

_Has she noticed my reaction? _My heart seemed to give a jolt as I thought of all the things she would probably call me if she found out. _Why am I even giving that consideration? _"What is it?"

She had a rather strange look in her eyes now. "Okay, I know this is going to sound really stupid-"

"Probably." My mouth could be retarded too sometimes.

The look in her eyes morphed into a glare, but then quickly dispersed and the look replaced it once more. "Like I was saying, it'll sound very weird, but... I don't know. It popped into my head. I just get this feeling that I might have met you before."

Oo

Ruka made his way in a slow, steady pace through the hallways of Alice Corp, boxes of food balanced precariously on his arms.

_I must've bought at least half the store. _He thought miserably, struggling to keep his face calm and relaxed so as not to alert people to his conflicting emotions. The boxes didn't inhibit his movements in any way; it was only his own mind that weighed him down. "Well, I'm finally here." he spoke softly to himself, standing outside the meeting room. He was just about to turn the knob when he heard their voices.

"Ano… Okay, I know this is going to sound really stupid-"

"Probably."

Ruka had to stifle a small laugh that nearly escaped from his lips. _Natsume, your mouth slipping as usual._ He realized that he'd been in his own thoughts for too long and he quickly tuned into their conversation again. _I really shouldn't be doing this._ He thought guiltily, but curiosity already had its hold on him and now he couldn't escape its grasp.

"… Like I was saying, it'll sound very weird, but... I don't know. It popped into my head. I just get this feeling that I might have met you before."

Ruka was blown back a bit by those words. _Has she remembered? _Little did he know, Natsume had been thinking along the same lines as him. It was then that Ruka knew that hewould lose control of his mouth and spill everything out to Mikan. And he knew it would probably be too much for her to take in all at once. It could cause a breakdown. _NO! I have to stop him!_ No sooner had the thought entered his mind that he took action.

Oo

Usually, I analyzed things that people said quickly, sometimes even before they themselves finished. This time however, the wheels in my brain turned a couple minutes slower. _Is it true? Have you...really remembered something?_

"You-" _You have. You and I saw each other for the first time...centuries ago._

Bam!

The door seemed to have had a good amount of force directed at it to crash open like that. My head snapped towards the intruder. An almost unidentifiable figure appeared, holding what appeared to be a ton of food boxes. Then a rather fake, cheerful voice called out from behind that big bulk, "I'm back with the food, guys!"

_Oh…it's only Ruka. _A couple seconds passed and another thought finally registered. _Ruka you dumbass!_ I wanted to holler at him and it took a good deal of my self-control not to. All I could give him was my fiercest glare, which was missed because of all the boxes that he was carrying.

"Oh, have I interrupted something?" Ruka's face peeked out from behind the load.

"Ruka-pyon!" shouted Mikan excited all of a sudden (notice he just thought of her as Mikan for a brief second) as she rushed over towards him to help with the boxes.

That twinge of annoyance came back, seeing as she forgot my disagreement with her way of giving people pet names.

"Wow! Is that food all for us?" she squealed again, this time with glee, although she caught herself and continued on in a calmer manner, "I mean, that looks like a lot of food. Oh Ruka-pyon! Why did you have to buy so much? I only need a tiny bit. You didn't need to go ahead and buy so much." She seemed sincerely guilty and flustered.

"Ehehe, I wasn't sure what Mikan-chan liked to eat so I decided to get one of each." Ruka said sheepishly, blushing softly at the same time.

She relieved Ruka of half his burden and brought them to the long table located at the center of the room (well duh it's a _meeting_ room). She peeked inside one of the boxes, sneakily slipped a piece out, and began munching on whatever it was. Pretty soon the entire box was finished. She immediately began on a second box.

"You have a pretty big appetite." Said Ruka politely, trying to dispel the uncomfortable silence that had begun to creep up on the three of us.

…

"Alright," I finally spoke. "I'm going to round up Narumi and the others. We'll have a meeting here to discuss some _important_ information. That means no eavesdropping, polka. And as for what to do, go help with the paperwork. You can at least do that can't you?"

"Yes, sir!" She made a kind of salute as she began marching off towards the doorway.

More than halfway there, she stopped and turned around, cheeks flaming red with embarrassment, and asked, "Ano, where is that?" She reminded me of a squirrel the way her cheeks puffed out like that whenever she was distressed or abashed.

"At the front desk," I replied. "You'll be helping Agano. She's always been complaining of her aching hand. Her temper will probably improve after she gets an assistant."

"Okay!" She took off the second I finished, a determined look on her face.

Once she was out of sight, Ruka spoke, "Maybe someday, she'll be able to reach your level, Natsume-kun."

"With her brains?" I snorted derisively. "She's a long ways off."

"…"

"What are you thinking, Ruka?" Whenever he stayed silent like that, he always had something on his mind.

"…Nothing." Although it was clear that there was _something._

_He's starting to sound more like me._

"Look, if it was personal, I wouldn't ask. Does it have anything to do with polka dots?" _Bingo._

His eyes looked away from mine, perhaps almost guiltily. I wasn't sure. And I wasn't used to it. You could usually see what he was feeling by simply glancing at him.

"…What was your main reason for employing her, Natsume-kun? Is it really because the company has their eye on people like her? Or is it something else? I've seen you turn down those that had the…abilities that we've always picked out from among hundreds of people looking for a job here, yet not her."

_Why?_"Shouldn't you know the answer already, Ruka?" My voice suddenly changed tone. I had just turned the tables in asking probing questions. "About what happened back then when we still knew little of this world… when _she _had been there. Or have you forgotten, Ruka?" At this, I had to be the one this time to break eye contact. Reliving that memory, and holding in that _secret _at the same time, having it eating away at me, it was just too much. _I made her a promise. And just like that, it was broken._

"I remember."

He had uttered it so softly that at first, I had almost mistaken him for my own thoughts. Almost.

I looked back towards him, but he was already walking to the door.

"I'll go get Narumi and the others." He said, without turning back, and stopped only to close the door softly, but firmly, shut.

I found myself staring after that closed door. _It's about time, Ruka._


	7. Returning Memories: Ruka

Disclaimer: I know I haven't mentioned this at all for about 5 chapters or so already, but I DO NOT OWN GAKUEN ALICE AND PROBABLY NEVER WILL, as much as it pains me to say so.

Okay, new character POV added. Hey, even bloody secrets can still be seen from multiple _point of views_. Say hello to our new insight, Ruka-pyon! Chapters in his POV will be in _italicized _letters.

Thank you for all your reviews people. Very much appreciated.

* * *

_Returning Memories_

My head throbbed as I went a bit weak at the knees, breaths coming in short gasps.

Sploosh!

The cool sink water felt good against my hot feverish skin. The glare of the restroom lights was beginning to hurt my eyes.

I peered into the large mirror in front of me. Usually, hair as bright as the rays of the sun and sky blue eyes would be looking back. But now my eyes were tinged slightly crimson like Natsume's, and even the skin matched his own pale pallor. _I look like some bloody vampire. _I laughed inwardly at the irony of it all. I should've been worrying by now. Whenever my eyes began to act like this…

Pain suddenly shot through my skull and I nearly cried out.

_It's coming again._ I had had a brush with this almost unbearable agony in the room with Natsume, but luckily, it hadn't been so bad then as now.

I reeled and had to grip the sink to steady myself, but my hold slackened for a sudden weakness enveloped my body. _No…_ But my thoughts were in vain and my knees finally gave way. As the ground rushed up to meet me, lights exploded from the back of my head, blinding me from within.

My consciousness left completely after the light faded away and was left amidst darkness.

Oo

_Ugh, my head._ The pain was gone. I was lying face down on something cold, something delicate and soft. And it definitely wasn't the marbled tiles of the restroom floor. My head felt heavy as if there was a dumbbell strapped to it and it was a struggle to even lift it up.

But I did, and I found myself staring directly into a pair of chestnut-colored eyes that were all too familiar to me.

"Ruka-pyon! I didn't hit you with that snowball _too _hard did I??" exclaimed Mikan. "You have that weird look."

It was then that I realized something. _This is a memory. _I gazed at the Mikan in front of me. _She's the same as usual._ In fact, she didn't look a single bit different except for her clothes, which was nothing more than a white smock with a black vest over it and brown leather pants. She also had leather sandals on her feet. These weren't clothes fit to wear on a winter's day. Even I could see that.

And then I realized that I was wearing the same outfit too.

_Oh god I look like a girl._

"Hey, you still there?" she snapped her fingers in my face, while gripping my arm hard and helping me up. "Well…I gotta go soon. Say hi to Natsume-kun for me."

And before I could open my mouth to stop her, she had zipped off into a forest of snowcapped spruces, which I hadn't noticed yet. I was left standing there looking at the spot between the trees where Mikan had been a couple seconds ago.

_Why is it that out of all the memories to remember, this one pops up?_

There was a sudden disturbance somewhere that tripped an alarm in my head.

My pupils thinned into slits as I allowed Wrath to take over. The thin red rings appeared again, clashing against my turquoise eyes. I darted immediately to a north-north west direction where I finally picked something up, but it wasn't what I expected.

_This scent is also familiar, but it's neither Natsume's nor Mikan's. _

In a flurry of movements, I was gone, the snowfall covering up what was left of my tracks.

Oo

_Damn, Ruka's taking too long._

Natsume paced impatiently back and forth in the meeting room. He had already changed into a new shirt, only this time he was without the tie and had tossed the jacket away somewhere in his wrecked office (hadn't he been saying how he needed a new one?).

"That it," he said, having reached his limit. "I'm doing this myself." And picked up his cell phone, wrote a quick e-mail, and pressed _send._

_Forget Ruka for now. _

Oo

"What do you want?" said Agano irritably. She had been chewing the end of her pencil, a habit that she'd acquired from years of paperwork, rather viciously.

Mikan could barely see the eraser already. _Gosh, you could get poisoned from that kind of thing!_

"Ano, I'm your assistant for the day in filing papers, Agano-sempai." She couldn't help but sound shy, as it usually was for her in front of seniors.

"I'm not your sempai," she snapped crossly, although some of her demeanor had softened. "You can just call me Agano-san. That's good enough for me."

"Hai, Agano-san." she said respectably, lightening up a bit.

"Well you're supposed to be my assistant aren't you? Then don't just stand there doing nothing, come give me a hand with these papers already!"

"Hai!" she scurried over as quickly as she could, eager for her job to start.

_Just you wait and see, Natsume-kun._ Mikan thought with a victorious air. _I'll become just as good as you. _

Oo

A splash of leafy foliage greeted me as I plunged into the depths of the forest, my heart hammering wildly in my chest.

The scent was suddenly gone as if the person had just ceased existing. And I stopped in my tracks.

Then I smelled blood, Mikan's blood.

And it was then that I knew. I knew what awaited me that by the time I got there, it would be too late.

_Because that is exactly what happens._ Everything fit together perfectly in that one instant and in that instant, there came a cry,

"NO!"

So much desolation and agony in that one word that my own heart was very nearly wrenched in two.

"Natsume!" I recognized his voice immediately and hoped furiously that he would hear mine. I could see a distant form kneeling in…snow dyed red with blood.

Anguish clawed at my heart as I neared that motionless kneeling form in the snow. The seemingly endless blur of white and green came to an end and I found myself standing less than 20 feet away from him.

"Natsume…" I couldn't think of anything else to say. The blood I noticed was mixed with someone else's besides Mikan's, the one whose scent had been so been cut off so suddenly.

_Akiri._

With another revelation, more pieces of the confusing puzzle of my memory fell into place.

_He killed her. And Natsume killed him._ But I would probably never find out _how_.

There was a stir of movement in Natsume's direction and I looked sadly over to him, wishing I could do something but there wasn't much.

_Because this is only a thing of the past. _It all happened already. You could look back in time but you couldn't change.

This had been the single most important memory that had been kept hidden from me out of countless others.

"Ruka…"

At the saying of my name, I raised my head, hesitantly, for Natsume's voice sounded lifeless.

I stood there silently, waiting for him to continue.

He stood up slowly as if the whole world weighed down upon him. "She's never coming back is she?"

The question struck me as if he'd actually hit me. I paused temporarily, "…Maybe she will someday. Perhaps there is such thing as life after death." I prayed that those were the right words to say.

_And they were._

He looked at me, and I saw something that had never happened before and probably would never happen again.

Tears.

They glistened in his eyes much like the snowflakes that swirled around him in the icy winter wind.

"Then I will wait. For as long as I can." His words were whispered over and over in my head long after the memory had faded away.

Oo

I could feel the floor's marble tiles once more, my cheek pressed flat against the cool, smooth surface. My arms looked as if they had tried to stop my fall and rested on either side of my head on the floor.

"Ugh I got one hell of a headache." Normally, I wouldn't swear or say profanities, but this was a special exception. I heaved myself up off the floor and looked in the mirror again. My eyes had once again returned to their regular turquoise color and my skin was flushed.

_At least I don't look dead anymore. _I thought with relief. Then a more worrying thought entered my mind. _How long have I been out?_

_"Then I will wait. For as long as I can."_

I laughed a little to myself as his words were repeated once more in my mind.

_Your waiting is over now, Natsume._ Or was it?

I pushed open the door to peer outside and saw Koko walking down the hallway with Iinchou.

"Hey, you guys!" I shouted. "We have a meeting and it's in the meeting room on this floor. "

"Oh," said Koko. "We were just heading there. Natsume's already called for all of us to attend the meeting."

I sighed in expectation. _He's impatient as usual._ Then I hurried over to join the two businessmen.

Oo

Down in the lobby, Mikan's hand had already begun to cramp from the countless forms and papers that she had to sign and shuffle through. And she also had to read _every single one_. Now she could totally understand Agano's short temper. She groaned inwardly as she saw the huge pile of papers that Agano placed on her part of the desk after taking away the pile that she had just finished.

_Well…_ she thought with a surge of determination. _I'll be able to get money for ojiisan back at home. _But once the thought of her ojiisan entered her mind, she started wondering about what he was doing at home right now and whether he was well and if he required any help with whatever he was doing. She was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Agano giving her annoyed looks after noticing that she had stopped going through the forms.

_What is that girl thinking about now? _She thought irritably. It had probably been the 3rd or so time she spaced out.

The sound of the revolving doors snapped Mikan out of her thoughts and she brought her full attention to the person entering. Besides doing paperwork, she also had to greet whoever came into the building and ask them to state their business.

Navy blue eyes pierced mine and I was startled enough to drop the papers I had been signing the forms with. I heard Agano's exasperated sigh from beside me. She obviously kept from greeting the guy because she wanted me to have some experience doing it myself.

"Well hello there," he said with a friendly smile. "I'm Tsubasa. You must be that girl that Natsume said to expect."

It took her a couple seconds to break eye contact. When she finally gathered herself back together, the question finally clicked in her brain.

"Expect?" She had come in hopes of getting a job, to try her best at the interview to get it. But being _expected_ was more like getting in scot-free. Had Tsubasa really meant it when he said that?

"Yes, you were expected by Natsume-kun. And I am to welcome you to the company and show you around, as people are assigned to do this to all newcomers. Natsume-kun would do it himself but, as he is the shachou of the company, he's too busy to see you."

"Then is that why you're here?" she asked, since it was her job to know this. She had also flushed a little after Tsubasa mentioned Natsume, unbeknownst to her.

"No, I've been summoned for a very important meeting by Natsume himself," he winked at me. "I'm usually on business trips to America."

"Wha?" her eyes widened at that. He looked no more than 17. "Seriously?! But you're so young!"

"I'm already a young adult." He said, smilingly. "But don't you think you should be telling yourself that? Still a sophomore in high school and already at the front desk of a company as prestigious as Alice Corp."

"Hmmm…you're right." Mikan pondered the revelation asking herself in her head why and how come. She nearly spaced out again until Tsubasa laughed and said,

"Well, I'll be seeing you, Mikan-chan. Probably right after the meeting. I'll give you a proper welcome to our company."

She immediately waved and said happily, "Bye, Tsubasa-sempai!"

_Hmm, I wonder what they're going to talk about?_ What was about this meeting that was so…important? _Hehe. I'm sure they won't mind if I listen in. _Uh oh. The slumbering eavesdropping Mikan had been awakened from its sleep.

_Now all I need to do is an excuse to go up there._

* * *

A/N:

Oo

The chapter ends with Mikan when it started with Ruka. Don't worry Ruka fans. There will be more Ruka chapters in the near future. But for now, what will she overhear from the meeting? Will she find out anything about those mysterious dreams she keeps having? And will what she hears from the meeting be enough to break her?

I'll leave you with these questions to ponder while I'm working on the next chap.

Well, I'm happy as long as you guys continue to be my readers and enjoy my writings. No need to worry about reviews as much. Your happiness is my happiness. But please review anyway if it's to your liking.


	8. Found Out: Mikan

Found Out

I peeked over towards Agano-sempai. She was busy with her own pile of forms, still chewing on the end of her pencil.

_Hmmm, this shouldn't be too hard._ I was confident my plan would work.

"Hey Agano-sempai."

"Hai?" _Good, she isn't in as bad of a mood as I thought._

"Ano I left something inside the shachou's office," The best plan I ever came up with.

Agano looked at me suspiciously.I gave her my brightest and most innocent smile.

"Fine." That was relatively easy, and here I was thinking how Agano wasn't the kind to fall for those kinds of things.

Oo

Sakura's smile was a bit too big to be innocent. Agano sighed mentally, _well if the kid wants to go, let her. She deserves to know._

"Fine." _Hyuuga won't like this though._

Seeing the girl smile again, this time with sincerity, made her heart clench slightly, and as she watched her receding back, she murmured some last words to herself,

"I hope this is the right thing to do."

Oo

Did Agano-sempai say something, or was it simply part of my imagination? I swore she had said something right before I left for the elevator doors.

"Hmmm, I'll ask her later." The light ring of the elevator told me that I was on the floor where the meeting was to take place. After the whole episode with the blackout, elevators now held an aura of eeriness.

"I believe it's this way." Did I ever tell you about my terrible sense of direction? Before long, all the hallways looked the same.

Oo

The room quieted down. Natsume seated himself comfortably at the head of the table.

"You all have been notified. We have had a visitor most recently, then leaving quite suddenly in his haste." His voice darkened at the word _haste. _

A few murmurs went around the table, followed by a blanketing silence.

It was cut short by a harsh statement, "It was that bastard again wasn't it?" Tsubasa said this with a tone not short of disgust. It seemed like it angered him greatly. And his irises suddenly had rosy red rings around them.

"Tsubasa!" warned Misaki, the woman nearest him with cinnamon colored hair. She was one of the people that were harder to miss at the table.

Tsubasa rubbed the sore self-earned pinch mark on his arm. His eyes had returned to their former navy blue.

"What I'm worried about is whether they'll decide to strike or not," Said a blond man, who looked suspiciously like a woman. "I believe the black out was his doing?"

"Narumi, we don't know exactly," admitting that he didn't know pained Natsume in a way. "But we'll find out sooner or later." He used 'we' to assure everyone that they were all in this together. Everyone was in it and there was no way out.

"No, we need to find out _now. _Wasting time is not an option." All heads turned towards the man with mousy-brown hair near the end of the table.

"Jinno-san, always the impatient one." Sighed Narumi, almost comically.

The look on Jinno's face darkened, you'd think the man was born with it.

"What do you think he was here for? Revenge of course, but that can be done without going through the trouble of actually walking straight into enemy territory."

The man had a point. The thing one loved most was also one's weakness. And in this case, it was a person, one hazel-eyed person.

Oo

It was rather hard to admit...Yes actually it was _very_ hard to admit that I, Sakura Mikan, was officially lost.

_Stupid blue carpet._ _Why'd you have to be so pretty? _

"Ugh. This is exactly the kind of thing jiisan was warning me about!" Why was I always losing focus? Screw this.

The carpet was soft and perhaps even silky when I sat down exhausted in mind and mildly lagging in body. And that was when I heard him speak, in a way that sounded... disappointed?

"Narumi, we don't know exactly."

Yes that was definitely him. There was the voice that was used so often to belittle me and my actions...but also the one that gave me an opportunity in the corporation, an easy one. Since when did my thoughts become so complicated?

I happened to have sat down right in front of the meeting room door. Talk about lucky.

"But we'll find out sooner or later."

That man, Narumi, must be a rather close acquaintance of his to have been mentioned several times already by him.

"No, we need to find out _now_. Waiting is not an option." Someone she didn't know was speaking now, a man. He seemed closest to the door. _I only know two peoples' voices so far dang it! Of course I won't know most of the people speaking here._ His voice was very rough as if he had a big frown on his face as he said it.

"Jinno-san, always the impatient one." This person sounded much lighter than the former and the way he or she spoke, it was hard to discern the gender.

"What do you think he was here for? Revenge of course, but that can be done without going through the trouble of actually walking straight into enemy territory."

_Who?_ Maybe they were talking about the guy the shachou went to meet with. _Who do you think? He was the only other visitor besides you._ It wasn't rare to find my own mind berating myself for being stupid.

Hm?

The room had gone silent.

_Have they realized my presence? Or is this simply an awkward silence? _Apparently, it was and relief flooded through me when someone began speaking again. It sounded like a young woman.

"You never told her did you?"

"Told who?"

"You know very well who I mean..."

My breath caught. _Could it be...?_

"No I have not."

A sigh of exasperation was heard. It came from the young woman.

"Hey take it easy, Misaki. Cut the guy some slack. It's his girl we're talking about." That sounded like Tsubasa!

There was a resounding thwack as if something of a rather big bulk landed on someone's skull.

"YOW! What the-" he was cut off suddenly.

Then realization of what Tsubasa said hit me. _HIS GIRL?!_ At that I accidentally let out a small huff of indignation, and right in the same second, the door opened behind me. My head fell back to see a pair of all-too-familiar crimson eyes glaring down at me.

A/N:

Sorry guys. I haven't updated in a while. It's pretty obvious. Hehe. But I promise, even if I take what seems like forever to write a single chap, and a short one at that, I WILL NOT dump this story. I'm trying my best to finish whatever I start. Blame the writer's block...and my lazy bum :)


	9. The Truth: Natsume

**The Truth**

"Hey, Natsume! What'd you find?" There was the muffled scrape of a chair against expensive carpet and Tsubasa's annoying head was suddenly right in front of mine. "Oi, Mikan! Didn't expect to see you there!"

"Get out of the way, Baka." I said it quietly enough for only him to hear.

"…eh." Tsubasa gave an embarrassed laugh.

The girl aforementioned by Tsubasa was now up and brushing herself off as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. Besides the fact that she nearly got herself involved in something that was way out of her league right now. Oh wait.

_She's already involved._

"Did you really expect me to sit down there and file papers when there's this HUGE meeting going on up here? And I can tell that I'm part of the reason you all are having one."

_Damn, she heard more than I thought._

"Oh really?" My voice came out smooth, like it always did when treading in dangerous waters. "And how do you know we're not just talking about how we may not need you in this company?"

"Wha…" She seemed lost for words. For once.

"Natsume-kun, don't be so harsh all the time. Why don't you just let her in on this? Knowing is often better than not."

"Narumi you-"

"Yeah, I agree with him!" Oh god, Tsubasa was no help as always in decision making.

"He has a point." Even Ruka agreed with him.

"Hey Natsume, give her a chance. Come on!" Koko spoke up for the first time during the meeting. Iinchou, sitting next to him, merely nodded.

"…"

"…Natsume-kun. You don't need to tell me if you don't want to." She said it.

"You…" She said my name. It wasn't sempai or shachou or sama or any of that crap. "I…" When did _I_ become lost for words? But I knew what I truly wanted, _craved_, so badly. I wanted to hear her say my name without anything added to it. I wanted her to say it over and over. I wanted… But in order for this to ever come true, she needed to know the truth and nothing but the truth.

"Fine."

Tension everyone had been holding was released.

"But I'll only tell you when we're alone. There cannot be any interruptions. That means, you need to return to your specified job until your hours are over and go home. Then you can meet me in my office tomorrow morning at 6:30 where I have some free time. You know where to find it."

"But-!"

"No." Things were still under my control. And I refused to lose it.

"Good enough." She held her chin high and walked off…in the wrong direction.

"Oi baka, it's this way." God knew how she managed to go this far in life.

"I knew that." She huffed defiantly as she turned around, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

I closed the door after her. And returned to the seat at the head of the table. "Let's continue."

"You're always so serious, Natsume-kun. Lighten up."

"Shut up." I grouched. It was enough that everyone had been against me. There was no need for any more hindrances in the meeting.

"So I'm guessing this is a personal issue," Said Iinchou. "But now it involves everyone since this person has decided to make the first move. And his methods of 'vengeance' I should say, places all those in this current building in danger. As to why he is doing this, I believe Natsume-kun has the answer to that, although I doubt he is willing to share it." Iinchou could match up to any of the older ones concerning quick thinking and getting the facts down, despite the fact that he was close to my age.

Of course I hadn't told anyone the reason behind the whole thing of Akiri's revenge, only Ruka had any idea of what was really going on. And Tsubasa had merely a small inkling.

"I suppose it is time I should do some full-on explaining to you all, every one of you. Right now. Like Narumi said earlier, having some clue as to what's going on is better than not knowing at all. Now is not the time for naiveté."

"Well said." Tsubasa made a little show of applauding.

"You're gonna be the second person underneath Akiri's name on my death list soon." I threatened.

"So why don't you start your whole life story of how you met this Akiri. And why does he want you dead so badly?"

"You all might as well be prepared because it's going to take quite awhile."

"Go ahead. We're all ears." Said Misaki.

Everyone else leaned in slightly too to show that I had their full attention.

"Very well."

Oo

_In the year 1600, the Tokugawa period of Japan, the Shinto religion was widely practiced by nearly everyone. They worshiped kami. And we were once considered to be one of them, kami trapped in human form. Humans given the power of Gods. And we were revered and respected. But that was then. _

_In the passing of 162 years, nearing the time of my birth, our craving for blood became too much for us to bear, to simply live on the blood of mere animals was not enough. No human knew of our need for this precious fluid. And thus, most of our kind lost control and there was the greatest massacre the world had ever faced. And who do you think led that massacre? My father. Along with the rest of my family, except my mother, who was pregnant with me at the time, but she was never one to lose control of her desires to drink human blood, she wasn't like the rest of us. So she fled and gave birth to me in small, unimportant village, not on any map. _

_Of course, the wide massacre of humans did not go unnoticed indefinitely. And soon, we were given a new name. Vampires. _

_People brought up specifically to destroy our kind finished off quite a few of us and began to pose a threat. They were what we called Hunters. These people had discovered the uses of stakes and axes and their power against us. Decapitating and stabbing a vampire through the heart was the way to kill one, although it was far from easy. _

_My father was furious and was even more infuriated when he discovered that I was his only heir. But he couldn't find us. Five years had passed by then. Desperate for another heir, he decided to _take_ one, by kidnapping a boy, of the same age I would be by then, from a prestigious village leader, who he deemed able to survive, and injecting his own vampire's venom into him. This was where our kind began doing this to other humans to increase their populations. _

_As for the boy who was bitten, he became my new brother, Akiri. Who I did not know of until he turned up on our doorstep one day, covered with the blood of a man that my mother recognized. My father's. And everyone else that had ever taken a part in my mother's life. _

_And her blood soon joined theirs. _

_That day when I saw him for the first time and watched my mother's beheaded and shredded body thud on to the ground, I knew he had made the decision for his life. And there was no turning back anymore. _

_I was nine at that time, as was he, but I wasn't strong like he was. And what my father had never known, my mother had a second child. And that was my little sister Aoi. But she never made it past the age of eight. Akiri made sure of that._

_His life had been destroyed. Partly because of my father, partly because of me, and he wanted to kill both. But, using his own words, "I won't kill you just yet. I want to take everything you have and will have away from you like you did to me, the life that I could've used to do something worthwhile."_

_And just like that, he had taken everything that had actually mattered to me in my world in one single hour. But to him, that wasn't _everything._ He wanted more. More pain, more grief. _

_Then my devastation channeled into anger. And I lost control completely, resulting in the destruction of my village, and yet…it hadn't been enough to kill Akiri. He escaped, after saying a few departing lines, "You'll never become stronger than me, those like me are always stronger than pathetic weaklings like you." And with that, he had run into the forest, leaving me standing in front of my burning village, the shrieking of the people as they burned alive in their beds echoing. And my mother…and my sister… dead. _

Oo

"But he was wrong." I shifted comfortably into another position. The past was the past. It would no longer cause me grief no matter how many times I thought it over. My mother had always told me to look to the present. And right now, there was someone that I had to protect. And finishing off Akiri once and for all would allow my mother and Aoi to finally rest in peace and a nuisance off my list.

"You kicked his ass back there! So that should prove that a century made his fighting suck like crap. I told you he was a bastard." Tsubasa was getting a bit too excited.

Misaki coughed rather loudly to break the awkward silence that threatened to come out.

"…Well, that was quite a story. But that doesn't explain what Mikan-chan has to do with all of this." Narumi did not seem fazed by this new piece of information.

"You only wanted to know why Akiri wanted to kill me. That is all you need to know." Something in my voice made it sound final. And there was no more talk for a while. There was nothing left for anyone to say that was really important so it looked like the meeting had ended itself.

"You are all dismissed."

The muffled scraping of several chairs and the door opening and softly shutting were the only sounds to be heard in the room.

"Hey, Natsume. Just so you know, I'm always there for you. Even when I'm gone, I'm still there in spirit. And I'm sure Mikan-chan will say the same thing, whether she gets her memories back or not." Ruka said, having stayed back.

"…Thanks. No one can ever match up to you as a friend."

It was times like these that had kept me going these past two hundred thirty five years since I first met the girl I would give up everything for.

A/N

Hey peoples! I got another burst of inspiration, yays! I uploaded sooner than I expected this time. Sorry about Aoi-chan. Natsume will avenge her death twice as hard. And as for the real manga characters, I'm sorry if their a bit OOC :-


	10. Hesitation: Mikan

Hesitation

Now that I thought about it, how much would I get paid? The shachou hadn't told me yet. I hoped it was enough for me to buy jiisan some eggs. And he still hadn't exactly specified how long I would be working here. I mean school was going to be starting soon for Pete's sake!

Agano-sempai looked slightly worried when she saw me. Did she think I had tried stealing something from the meeting room?

"Agano-se-"

"I have your schedule that the shachou e-mailed me." Agano-sempai handed me a printed copy of the schedule.

"Hey wait. How did-?"

"He has a cell phone."

"Eh, what time is it, Agano-sempai?" I didn't see a clock anywhere.

She immediately whipped out a pocket-watch, that I hadn't seen on her person, and flicked it open. "Approximately 10:00 a.m." She really was the brisk and accurate type.

"How long will I have to-?"

"Check the schedule."

_Right._

It looked like I had my job as a paper filer start at 6:00 at night and end at 9:00 in the same night. Today I was to work from 10:00 in the morning to around 6:00 at night. 8 hours! And the days after that too were scheduled the same way. Then when school started again, every day was marked off and the late night hours would start. It looked like I'd have to cram my homework as usual, as with all my former jobs. It was just my luck to have gotten work in a high, sophisticated corporation that was going through some hard times, which I was somehow, in a vague way, involved in. It was all so confusing.

And I had the notion that the shachou was giving me all this work on purpose.

"Mikan! Get to work!" snapped Agano-sempai strictly.

"Hai!" I scooted into the chair next to her and began to file the papers waiting for me there.

_I will not lose to him._

Oo

_Thank god for coffee._

Natsume stretched himself out on his new high-back chair and took a look around his temporary office. It wasn't as good as his old one, but it wouldn't be very long before the carpenter repaired the splintered wood table. He would be wondering who in the world had split a solid oak-wood desk in half, but that was nothing to worry about. He'd had worse cases before such as the time he had to call a plumber to fix a sink that Tsubasa had "removed" from the wall in one of his rages. They always were a problem. Maybe he should put him in anger management.

_Brrrrriiiingggg!_

The chair nearly flew out the window this time.

"Shit!"

He still wasn't used to the phone and its shrill high-pitched ringing. It had sounded like a silencer for a minute there. All guns always emitted a high-pitched squealing sound, but a silencer had the most annoying one.

"Hello?" His voice came out gruffer than he expected. "This is the shachou of Alice Corp. speaking." Usually calls went to his secretary, who apparently was absent today.

"Hello. Is Mikan there?" a cool female voice cut through the speaker. "She is supposed to be back by now. Tell her that she needs to get back here now or she will suffer the consequences." It was an emotionless voice that made him wonder why the hell would Mikan even associate herself with these kinds of people. And he wondered where 'back here' was.

"I'm sorry, but she has work right now. And I'm afraid that she won't be able to come back until later. I can have her return your message if you-"

"Then I'm coming over."

_What the hell? No!_

But before he could form his thoughts into words, the phone had clicked suddenly and only the tone was heard.

"Shit!"

He must've sworn at least twice as much today than he usually did. It hadn't been his plan to see her before the day was over. Or else everything he had planned to tell her in the morning would end up spilling itself out in front of everyone. And Natsume Hyuuga did not want that, not in the least, not that he wasn't desperate to get her to remember everything already and save him some trouble. If only it were that easy. But it wasn't. Instead, some friend of hers was on her way here and would probably end up ripping her away from her post. And then Alice corp. would lose its newest employee for good.

(notice how this is all in his head)

Oo

"Ah-choo!"

"Bless you. Someone talking about you?"

"Yeah, probably." My nose felt really itchy now and tingly. It usually felt this way when… "Hotaru?"

And at that exact moment, the door burst open with a bang.

"WAhhhhhhhhhhh-mph!" Someone's hand had clasped firmly over my mouth.

"Be quiet, polka dots." That someone murmured in my ear.

_When did _he_ get here? _

"mmmmmmmmph!" I sure wasn't staying quiet when someone was gagging me at the same time.

"Mikan."

The voice caught me off guard and I ceased struggling against the shachou's surprisingly strong hold.

"Hotaru…" His hand had relaxed and I'd managed to wrench it off.

"Mikan." Hotaru didn't usually repeat things.

"What are you doing here? I thought you-"

"You promised to come back." She accused mercilessly.

I winced at the memory. It was true that I had promised, but that was when she had been pressuring me about going shopping for school supplies. And I had hastily answered to her demand that I would go with her when my interview was over. I hadn't expected to be sent immediately to work. "…eh." I laughed just as Tsubasa did when he was in this kind of situation. "Sorry about that Hotaru, I didn't-"

"You can't promise one thing and then do another."

"But Hotaru-"

"There's no need to explain," She sighed impatiently. "Just tell me when your hours are over."

"Ummm, about that. I-"

"I'm afraid she has plenty of hours left to work." The shachou was ruthless when it came to these matters. "So you'll expect her done by 6:00."

Hotaru was silent for a moment and for a minute there, I thought she was going to do something Hotaru-ish. But what she said next surprised me.

"Fine. But I expect you to make up for your promise." And with that she began heading out. But before she was past the door she turned slightly and said, "I will call later for an interview myself."

My mouth fell open slightly.

Things were getting weirder by the minute.

"Get back to work, Mikan!" Agano-sempai probably wanted to make a good impression on the shachou.

"Yes, ma'am!" She really was starting to sound like some Lieutenant and I turned to rush back to my beloved papers. But before that could happen, a hand caught my wrist.

"Wait."

Were my eyes deceiving me or was the shachou holding on to me for no reason?

He had that look in his eyes again. And it had the same effect as last time. The look lasted a couple seconds longer before something not short of disgust replaced it and he let go of my wrist like it was contagious.

"Never mind." As he left, I noticed something.

Where his fingers had been there were angry red welts in their place. And when I took one last look back at his hands, they were quivering quite agitatedly.


	11. Never Easy: Ruka

_Never Easy_

I stayed back in the meeting room after everyone left. My fingers traced the woodwork of the usual smooth, extensive table found in every room like this.

Had it really been more than two hundred years already? All I knew was that 235 years ago, Natsume stopped smiling. He still hadn't even when this girl, looking the same in every aspect as to the one we both knew long ago, shows up all of a sudden. I still had my doubts as to whether or not that was truly her despite looks.

I thought about it once more. No. Her sudden appearance _wasn't_ sudden. Natsume had personally searched her up himself and, even though I went through all the papers on her and even her birth certificate, surprise still managed to slap me once in the face. There was no way this girl could be the girl we knew all those years ago and yet I knew that somewhere inside me there was that futile hope that she might suddenly get a shock of some sort and miraculously remember us.

That was plain impossible and stupid to think about.

Vampires just didn't _forget._ Unless some unnatural force affected them, which in Mikan's case could've been probable? Perhaps. Then maybe getting a sudden brain shock might not be so stupid to make a possibility.

My hand clapped my forehead in frustration at things having to be so complicated. Why couldn't Mikan just remember everything right _now_? Hadn't I worked so hard to keep Natsume happy? And yet, the source of his happiness eventually became mine.

I sighed deeply out loud. "I guess it's time to get back to work." I carefully closed the office door behind me.

Oo

Where did Natsume go?

I looked around the empty office, the temporary one that was. His penholder had been knocked over. He must've been in quite hurry. I glanced at the creamy, white folder that was in my hands. I had been planning to give it to him a little before the visit from Akira. It contained all the files on Mikan, from her age to where she lived and who acted as her guardian. It was a little disturbing to think about how far technology had advanced that you could look up everything about a person at the click of a mouse.

I placed the folder nonchalantly on to the desk, put the penholder upright, and exited the room.

"Now to talk to Agano-san about those papers I asked her to edit for me."

Oo

I must've come in at a bad time.

Natsume had one hand clamped over Mikan's mouth, a girl, who somehow had a dark aura surrounding her, stood watching them nearby, and poor Agano-san was standing a little ways off, in the middle of the crossfire. Obviously, it looked like Mikan was dragged into this, and there was a mental battle going on, between the girl and Natsume, which she had no clue was happening. Then again, neither did Agano.

"Mikan." Her voice sounded cold, like the unemotional face she had.

Mikan broke free from Natsume's grip.

"Hotaru." _Hotaru…_ Mikan couldn't be associating herself with these kinds of people could she?

"Mikan."

"What are you doing here? I thought you-"

"You promised to come back. You can't promise one thing and do another."

"But Hotaru-"

The short conversation they held went on in this fashion. Eventually, it led to Natsume's usual brisk way of dealing with things. But much to the surprise of probably everyone in the room, this Hotaru did not leap to kill Natsume as we all might have predicted.

Her eyes flickered towards my direction for a fleeting moment and, even though I had hidden myself well, a spark of acknowledgement flashed in those eyes and I knew that she knew I was there. Her irises were purple.

She looked away again and said in that same cold voice, "Fine. I expect you to make up for your promise," She was halfway out the door when she added, "I will call later for an interview myself." And, once more, although I looked away this time, I felt her eyes probing the area where I stood. I almost shuddered.

She left.

Agano-san must've been getting her mojo back again because she was already barking out an order to her subordinate. "Get back to work, Mikan!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Mikan was as enthusiastic as ever.

"Wait." At the sound of Natsume's voice, I put them in my line of vision once more.

_Is he losing his mind?! _

My near spastic reaction to what happened during this scene was not short of losing my own mind. The conveniently large potted plant, behind which I was hiding, cracked in a large area, the place where the tip of my shoe had kicked in my overly excited senses. As I gasped silently in pain at my stubbed toe, yes I had kicked the pot harder than I'd expected, Natsume was already beginning to walk towards my hiding place, which was also, unfortunately, near the elevator and stairs.

And, quite miraculously, he passed by without a word or a glance in my direction, although I had been directly in his line of vision. He was gone in less than a second, not bothering to use the elevator. I was beginning to think that, these days, that particular mechanism was only there for show.

I decided to make my entrance a few minutes after all had settled down.

"Agano-san. Do you have the papers that I sent you all edited?"

The older woman seemed to become flustered almost immediately, which was amusing really. "Of-of course! I had them printed, grammar checked, and ready right after I received them." Her face looked slightly flushed as she said those words. Agano-san was one of the many workers we had in the building who wasn't in any way affiliated with the supernatural, although they had all gotten involved in some way after joining this corporation. However, none of them knew about the vampire abilities of their higher-ups, besides the occasional talk that they've never seen any of them eat with their own eyes yet.

I received my papers and a huge smile from Mikan, who looked so wonderfully happy at my mere presence that I was slightly taken aback. She'd always been that way and always would be, even if she didn't have the same memories as the one I had known all those years ago.

Oo

My own office was a floor beneath Natsume's. Regular staff members could choose any office below the 27th floor. The building had, in total, 30 floors. But the top four floors were all used for storage. It was strange that we'd never put all the stuff up there down in the basement, although that was a parking lot for the staff and shachou.

On the way to my office, I passed by a few fellow workers, whom I had actually taken the time to memorize their names and faces. It was best to know who you entrusted the job of taking care of the other employees so you could find them if anything went wrong. But I didn't like thinking that way. It was merely out of respect and politeness that I did so.

"Thank god I don't have to switch offices so often like Natsume or Tsubasa." Tsubasa also broke things, more often than not, perhaps he was even worse than Natsume. But luckily, he had Misaki to control him, while Natsume had only me, who I was sure wasn't the best to be provided. What he actually needed was female influence. And he hadn't had much of that, not since his own stepbrother killed his mother and little sister. And then he went ahead and took down the only girl he ever and will ever love. Yes, it was actually pretty depressing to think about it all.

I was beginning to spend way too much time thinking about things when I should've been working. I sheepishly walked into the office, from which I had been standing in front of for quite a while. It would be another three or four hours before a one-hour break for us, the higher-ups. The times when one could take a break were divided equally amongst different sections between employees and the higher-ups. It was most likely that Natsume would shut himself in his office once again, with the curtains down and the lights off. He always said that it was easier for him to work in the dark. This time, however, I would convince to come out and take a breather. He'd probably live longer. And I knew a different method to use now besides my previous one, which had simply been an unconvincing description of the weather outside and the benefits of socializing with his colleagues.

Our company was all about funding and loans, with advice to go with it; funding for all kinds of things. Because of our broad stretch in this area, our corporation, which had started out small like many have, quickly grew in size after customers had praised our brilliancy at helping them save money for colleges and children's tuition fees. And Alice Corp. became one of the most well known companies in Japan.

I opened up the electronic calendar I had set up in my computer and looked over the meetings planned for Natsume and everyone else. The long four hours began after the sorting of the dates for the meetings commenced.

Who said this job was easy?


	12. Regret: Natsume

**Regret**

Ruka didn't know squat about making convincing speeches. He'd walked right in saying how it was our time for taking a break. And he said I'd have lots of _fun_ and how I'll be able to _enjoy_ myself more if I got time to hang with _her_.

I threw him out before anything else could come out of his mouth.

No. It was impossible. I couldn't face her anymore. I wouldn't, without the dangers of losing control. There was a hunger, a different one from the kind for blood. It was something even more than what I could handle, something-

"Damn it all! I'm supposed to be working!" My hands flew to my head as I leaned back into my chair. Breathing hard.

_Where's my stress toy?_

I reached into a hidden pocket within my pants and out came a miniature Tsubasa beanie. I squeezed the damn thing until its head popped off from the extreme pressure I'd applied with my ruthless grip.

Satisfied, I looked back to the screen of my laptop. It flickered for a second, like it was mocking me.

I continued to stare at remains of it from where it'd hit the wall across from me when I'd launched it in a single fluid motion. Looks like I still wasn't completely satisfied.

_Oh crap. I forgot to save._

I opened a lower drawer in the desk and pulled out an old, almost equally battered looking one, but it was still operating decently. There was always an extra one of these things inside each and every desk that belonged to one of the higher-ups.

More things were getting broken each day.

Today was one of those long days. It wasn't that often when the shachou of another company, and your own half brother at that attacked you. The meeting hadn't really done anything besides put everyone on the alert. We couldn't just face the AAO head on without getting the police involved, which would've been too much of a hassle as there would be unnecessary deaths. There hadn't been any witnesses, cameras did not pick up on anything out of the ordinary as Akira had tripped them, and no one would believe that the destruction of my office had been the work of two vampires. However, the fact that no one reacted to Akiri jumping out a window from the 26th floor made keeping everything on the down low a bit easier.

The rest of the day pretty much passed like this. Me having my replacement laptop's screen illuminating my already-pale face making me look drained. Thoughts, as to what the hell I should do should this situation ever happen again, passing through my mind. And before long, it was already 5:45 p.m; fifteen minutes before most employees would take off from their jobs and Alice Corp. would regain its sleepy state once more.

I began to mull over a few questions that I still had nagging me from somewhere in a corner of my mind. It was just too easy. Yes it was, to have defeated Akiri so easily. He hadn't tried his best, but he wasn't holding back either. Could this be the flaw in having not been born a vampire? The effects of time upon a vampire's physical build and mentality were slightly different from the average human. We aged slower, grew stronger when the body was supposed to degrade, and the five senses all sharpened, even taste. Yes, we could eat human food too. Who couldn't? It just tasted vile, like eating something from the ground. Raw meat didn't seem so bad though. I could at least handle that. It was what I had to live off of back then, through hunting. And it was the same now, although more distance had to be traveled in order to reach a satisfactory hunting ground. And it had to be at night.

So, walking amongst viable talking lumps of meat in the day and slaughtering animals for food at night. That was the life for a vampire in today's modern time. Those that lived in the wilderness were considered savage, abnormal, because it was a vampire's nature to blend in with things. And the best way to get the best prey was to disguise as one. That was where mysterious disappearances came into play. Yet no one in the city had ever noticed anything stranger than the person being noted as missing and then turning up dead the next week. It was already considered a way of life.

But there a different effect to be had from Changing someone. Perhaps the body would receive all the power a vampire would ever get from an early age, but over time, would deteriorate like any other average human, which would also explain their tendencies to be able to actually handle regular food. Not all of their human qualities were gone yet. There was no way you could ever receive our full-fledged abilities unless you were born one of us.

_It sure sucks to be Akiri right now,_ Because I was going to finish him for good this time.

Inevitably, I continued my mental self-debate with these thoughts, staring blankly at the laptop screen, which led to a Trance, where I stopped breathing, my eyes took on a misty look, and my body went limp. The equivalence of this state was to a corpse.

And, just like always, it didn't occur for a moment in my mind, the policy that all new employees were to greet the shachou after their first day. Stupid policy I know. Why couldn't they go to Ruka? It was so much easier and less grinding on the nerves, for he knew much more than me when it came to making people feel calmer, despite his terrible conviction skills.

The scream that tore the air open was what reminded me of that particular policy.

Oo

"Wh-what-!?" Agano-sempai had sent her up here, ripping her away from her papers. She hadn't done anything bad, she never thought about hurting anyone, but now she had a dead-looking shachou on her hands, his eyes seeming so soulless.

Mikan screamed as loud as she could.

"My god! What is it? A fire?" He'd suddenly sprung up from that chair.

A dead body had just moved, and was on its two legs, talking to her.

She couldn't handle it all for more than five seconds, before her eyes rolled into her head and her own body went limp. She fell back like a rock.

Oo

As I stared down at the girl I had caught just in time before she cracked her head against the floor's hard marble tiles. I hadn't done anything despicable, or tried to, and yet here I was, supporting a girl who had fainted not two seconds ago.

"Why does this keep happening to me," I groaned. Everything and everyone was out to get me today.

Luckily, the room had a convenient couch, perfect for putting fainted girls on to.

_OIh god. It's starting to get just like last time. _Last time, I hadn't been able to control myself well enough (as usual). And I had allowed my self to get out of hand and had actually stooped to a level so low that it could've been considered possibly harassment. I was sure that no girl would be happy to find out that a man that they didn't know too well had kissed them while they'd been asleep. This situation was already getting too dangerous with these thoughts clouding my mind, stopping me from using any rational thought.

"Oi! Get up, polka dots." The girl finally opened her eyes after a few persuasive shouts. "As you can see, I'm not dead."

She merely stared at me for a couple minutes as she took in the fact that I hadn't just up and died in my chair, with my eyes open and glaring at the screen of a beaten up laptop. What a way to die. I probably would kill myself before anything like that could ever happen.

"I…I really did think you'd died…and…" she diverted her eyes for a second.

And for a whole second I wanted her to say that it'd hurt, that it was like hell to think that I had dropped dead for a moment.

"And I sorta freaked a little bit." She smiled sheepishly.

Oh.

"A little bit?! If you had used enough force, you probably could've shattered all the windows. I'd have to buy myself a new pair of ears." It wasn't hard to act like that thought never happened.

"…Sorry about that." She looked like she actually meant it.

It was no use and I gave in.

"So do you have any questions?" I couldn't let my own thoughts delay us any longer. "If not, then you are permitted to leave." I waited. Time passed by all too slowly and we just ended up staring at one another. It was then that I found that I couldn't say anything, I was tongue-tied. She kept looking right back, not saying a word either. All throughout that enduring time could I do was pray that she'd say something eventually that would break this spell. She never did.

Ten minutes had passed by now. And all that had taken place in that small span of time was just the two of us gaping at one another.

The phone rang.

She jumped visibly and I was back to reality once more.

I thanked Kami over and over for such a wonderful stroke of luck on a cursed day like today. I strode over to the device and picked up the handset.

"Hello?"

"This is Hotaru Imai calling. I am downstairs waiting for Mikan. I was told that she gets off work at 6:00. It is now 6:01. If she is any more late, I will have to resort to _certain _measures."

My blood actually chilled at this thought. Oh god. I had a mad woman waiting downstairs. Might as well give her what she wants.

I hung up. "Your friend is downstairs waiting for you. I think you should hurry. She sounds like she's close to doing something drastic."

"Oh dear." Mikan stood up and started hurrying over to the door. But then she turned and muttered, "Um…ano…" I began to look at her again, strongly aware of the power that her eyes held over me, staring searchingly in her eyes for the question she wanted to ask. "Never mind."

She left.

Oo

It was about time to head back to the apartment now.

That's right. I actually lived somewhere besides my office. Surprising isn't it?

Ruka called me earlier for me to meet him downstairs. We were probably going to stop by the neighboring Starbucks for a coffee or two. The caffeine would help give that extra kick. Then go to our separate apartments to drop off our things.

And finally, it would be time for hunting.

I was especially hungry today.

Oo

What was I thinking?

What good was it if I had the power to lift things 20 times my size? What good was it to never need to sleep nor get tired? What more could I want when I already had immortality? None of it was _any_ good if I couldn't even protect what I considered important.

She was gone.

Taken.

Akiri had taken her. And I had simply let it all happen. What was being damned good for now?


	13. Technical Difficulties: Hotaru

A/N: You guys _must_ be disappointed at my incredibly slow rate of updates. I'm sorry. Yeah, that's right, I'm expressing my apologies in two simple words. I have to admit, I've been very lazy lately and also rather busy with other stories that have been created mainly for teacher's eyes only (a.k.a Homework). However, that doesn't give me the excuse that Christmas has already passed and my document is still blank, just waiting for the words to come. Okay, I'm going to use just five more words to express my distress about having kept my readers waiting so long: Hotaru comes into the picture! That's right. She gets her own POV. It will be underlined. I think I perhaps remember a promise about having only three people getting their own POVs, but I guess I lied! Ehehe, oh well…

People have been getting confused lately for POVs and all that. Very sorry. I will work on that. But for now, just enjoy the fic as much as you can!

_Disclaimer: _I DO NOT OWN GAKUEN ALICE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!!!! Except Akiri, that cheeky little bastard 

* * *

Technical Difficulties

_It's six o' clock already…_

I impatiently revved my old duck-based, two-person motor scooter (shaped that way to be streamlined and useful for all purposes on the road, _especially_ evasive action) as my watch went off, with the voice recording I had inserted (an old something I had found in the lost and found at school and combined with an old wrist watch) calling out, "Mikan, you baka, hurry up!" I had even taken the liberty of waiting for her in the parking lot across from where she worked. The hours she'd signed up for were ridiculous! Now a mechanic was the way to go. Being a mechanic required many years of experience, but for me…it didn't take long before everything started making sense. Too bad for the baka.

_So why hasn't she come yet?_ _Patience, Hotaru. _

Patience was never one of my good traits. Thirty seconds past six. She was late.

"Hotaruuuuuuuu!!!!!"

I welcomed her with my homemade fly swatter, and a Mikan-sized one for good measure. It had always been a favorite pastime of mine to watch her dazed figure flying through the air towards some inconspicuous bush. But, today was different. Today…was the annual day for _shopping_. I held back a bit so all she did was fly into a smaller bush than usual.

"Hotaru, you meanie!!" She always pouted in the Mikan-ish way of hers, her cheeks puffed out. Leaves were scattered all over her hair, caught in her pigtails. Hadn't I already told her to stop wearing them like that, that she had entered the stage where pig-tails mainly made her look too naïve for the world? If there was one thing Mikan Sakura was stubborn as hell about, it was her look. I knew the Earth would have to revolve around the sun a thousand times before she would deign to finally take those ribbons off.

"Hurry up, baka, we're going." She got on and I revved the scooter once more, but this time, it was to charge it up to full speed. I wasn't going to waste time in this dump.

"Umm, Hotaru would you please SLOW DOWN!?"

I sighed. "Mikan, I have no patience for these pathetic cars and their inability to go past 280 mph. It's just not worth it." I weaved in between cars with an uncanny precision. The goggles that I had placed over my eyes helped (specially made to go hand in hand with the duck scooter, these goggles emit signals to your brain, increasing your reaction time by ten fold). Before long, we'd reached the shopping mall of a woman's dreams. I pushed past the fancy revolving door that usually graced the entranceway of a hotel, but this place was high class enough to afford one. The interior was just as flashy as its exterior. I had to admit, it impressed even me at times.

"Welcome to Tokyo Department Store." Spoke a tinny, female voice, emanating from a speaker above the doorway. "Clean-up in aisle five."

I sighed again. Someday, I was going to update that old model. Yes, Tokyo Departments was one of the large franchises that revered my work. And they hadn't been wrong when they had told me about how I was one of 'the best'.

"Let's go ask the nice lady by the desk where the school supply floor is!" Mikan, like the baka she was, knocked over several precariously placed piles of shoes and a small rack exhibiting different kinds of shoe polish. The owner of these scowled at her, then began rubbing his temples, an action I often saw from most people associated with Mikan.

"No need! I know the place from top to bottom. Just behave long enough for us to get out of here without me having to pay for all the damage you'll do!" This was dangerous territory. There were still hundreds of piles of shoes just waiting to be mowed down by the infamous Mikan Sakura. Every year, when they made their annual trip here to the department store, the store shopkeepers would cringe in either sympathy for their unfortunate neighbors who had their products toppled or themselves if they were the ones whose products were upturned. This year was no different.

I quickly dragged her into the nearest elevator and pressed for the third floor. The doors slid shut and the same tinny, female voice that had greeted them at the entrance spoke here, "Floor 3: Office Supplies." I mentally applauded myself for being so good. Luckily, I hadn't mixed the Office Supply floor with the Coffee Bean floor like last time. The memory of an overly hyperactive Mikan entered my mind's eye. I shuddered inwardly. It was then that I noticed that the subject of my thoughts was looking a little pale. "Hey, you alright?" She really did look rather sick.

"Yeah…just had a recent bad experience with elevators."

"Recent, huh?" From what I knew so far, the last time she'd ridden in an elevator was in this same one last year. It must've occurred at the company she was newly employed to, although it was strange that such a sophisticated-looking building would have such badly made elevators.

"Destination reached. Have fun shopping!" The voice was getting a little annoying now.

"Mikan. I have the list all in here," I tapped my head. "All _you_ need to do is just help me hold the stuff, if you can at least manage that." I gave her a warning glare.

"Of course I can, Hotaru!" her paleness was all gone and once again replaced by her bubbly self.

I nearly smiled. This was one of the reasons why I'd become her friend in the first place. She made everyone around her feel the same way she did, which was usually her signature mood, absolute bliss.

The actual shopping was finished in less than 20 minutes. I made sure there was no wasting time on her part and, after re-checking the list I'd memorized in my head, I mentally nodded with satisfaction at myself. This was a new record. The rest of the two or more hours we'd spent there were used for some free time (a.k.a: Letting Mikan do whatever she wants). Today might just have been one of those days where things might just go right. That was, until we stepped out into the department store parking lot.

"Have a nice day!" exclaimed the female voice at the entrance with such an overdose of sugary sweetness that I wondered what the manager of the store would say if he found his precious speaker with its central power system smashed in.

The consideration of getting a job where Mikan worked had just crossed my mind when several dark-cloaked people walked out from some dark undergrowth. They stood in the space between us and my duck scooter.

Without my notice, the sky had grown rather dark since we'd gone in. It was nine at night to tell the truth so it was no surprise, but it made the figures standing in our way all the more menacing.

"Who are you guys?" The little baka still hadn't fully grasped on to the situation yet. If people dressed in dark cloaks were to suddenly show up in front of you, it meant they were either there to give you warnings or information or kidnap you to take to their leader. And sometimes both. Believe me, I had too much experience with this.

"Are you Mikan Sakura?" One of the figures asked. It was rather hard to tell whether it was male or female even through its voice and the cloak managed to conceal anything that might've given a hint as to its gender. She assumed it was a man. But the fear hadn't kicked in at that moment. Not yet.

"Yes I am!" spoke Mikan before I could stop her. Baka! I mentally slapped myself for thinking that for once Mikan would use her brain to realize that she shouldn't talk to strangers, especially ones that had not-so-good intentions.

"Then please come with us. We someone who wishes to meet you- oof!"

The second of speech was all I needed to whip out my Baka Gun (if aimed at an idiot of low IQ, it will unleash a force to be reckoned). And, surprisingly, it gave enough force to put a cannon to shame.

"Argh! Why you little bitch!" It blew the guy off his feet and the shockwave was enough to make the other people step back. The guy caught himself before he could hit his head on a pole and pulled out his own gun from his cloak. The others, after hesitatingly a bit, also took out their own. It was then that I recognized the guns that each had in their possession. They were ones that I, myself, had made quite a while ago, but had canceled the order after thinking that it was too much of a destructive weapon. The next day, several whole boxes of the stuff that I was going to use for scrap metal were stolen from the warehouse I'd stored them in. Now they'd reappeared before me. And the details of the weapon flitted through my numbing brain. T-Gun Version 5: specially developed to be able to shoot through any kind of armor, especially the bulletproof kind; it can go through more than five feet of diamond. I didn't know what the hell I'd been thinking when I created those things, but this proved why such things were never created in the first place.

However, I had not come unprepared for such an event as this. The force of the bullet may have been strong enough to kill ten or more people, but that didn't make the gun indestructible. My fingers twitched over the pocket where I had a retractable baton in the guise of a lipstick container (the Baton 5000: guise of lipstick container, cliché, but incredibly useful, able to smash guns that can shoot through more than five feet of diamond). But there were four people and only one of me, not to mention being backed up by a girl who could freak at any moment and get in the way. Yet everything that I had done so far from the point where those people stepped in front of us until now was for her _and_ I.

"Hmm. I see you're not the type to go screaming for help like everyone else usually does." I could practically hear the smirk from behind the guy's heavily cloaked face. "It will be all the more fun when four bullets pierce your skin at the same time."

"NO!" screamed Mikan. I knew she was screaming for me because it had finally gotten into her head that she was about to be kidnapped by people who had no use for the girl next to her. And people like them always disposed of useless people in the worst way possible. "Please! Don't! I'll do anything! Just don't hurt her…please…"

"…You know. I love watching people beg. If you grovel a bit on your hands and knees maybe I _might_…"

"Please!" But before she could get down on her knees, I gripped her arm hard.

"Don't." I spoke roughly. "Don't give this guy what it wants."

"Oh dear. Well then I'm sorry little girl because I might have spared your friend if either of you were to beg a little bit, but I'm afraid you've lost your chance."

"As if I'd go down on my knees for a person with a gender problem!"

"What did you say you-!?"

I took my moment once more and handed Mikan the Baka Gun before running towards the big mouth. If they shot me now, they'd hit Mikan. I had to get away from her. I flipped the baton open faster than one could blink and then brought it down as hard as I could on the guy's gun.

Crack!

The gun was broken beyond repair and so, probably, was the guy's hand. It took me more than a second to realize that there had been more than one sound like that. There had been several. I looked back.

Oo

Mikan had never known one could feel such an intense thing but in the one moment when she saw those guns pointed at her best friend, something stirred in her breast. And, in that one moment, a hatred beyond anything she'd ever experienced rose within her and she wanted to kill…to eat…she was hungry. For what? Mikan found out after her arm lifted of its own accord and shot down one figure with the Baka Gun. The other two, surprised, turned towards her, their attentions straying from the lesser threat.

Yes…she knew what she wanted. She picked the meaty looking one.

Oo

I couldn't remember the last time I wasn't surprised by my childhood friend. But this…this might've been the worst surprise I'd had in a long while.

It happened at the edge of a parking lot in front of a well-known department store in Tokyo. It happened on a moonless night lit by dimmed streetlights and was witnessed by six people. One of them had a broken hand but was currently recovering from a blow to the head and one was standing a little ways off, shaking with either fear or mirth I didn't know. One was dead through a fatal blow to the temple, two were losing control both of themselves and the situation. And one was dying from a neck wound on which one of the two losing control was currently feasting herself upon.

"M-mikan…" God how I hated it when I heard how much my voice shook. I could practically taste it, the fear thickening the air. And I was watching my first death. Only animals died this way. And we were all animals. No one ever talked about nearing death, only death as a whole. No one ever mentioned the death throes a body gives when its life's blood was slowly being sucked away. No one ever talked about what the eyes one had when life was draining out of them looked like. And what no one ever talked about was the people in this world who did the draining and the taking of one's life that there was always somebody who were the hunter.

"Mikan…" My voice grew stronger, firmer. "Mikan! Stop! You were never meant to be a hunter!" I knew I wouldn't be making much sense through my desperate shouting, but the Mikan I knew was still there and she heard me.

"Ho….Hotaru…" She whimpered then as her contracted pupils dilated back to their normal size. "I…what did I do!?" She broke down then and then screamed as she saw all the blood, felt it, tasted it. And it probably tasted good to her because for an instant, her pupils contracted again. However, it was gone in a flash and regular, non-blood drinking Mikan was back again. "Wh-what did I do?" she repeated, this time sounding as if all her energy had gone.

Before I could reply, I heard someone clapping. It was slow and applauding, as if the clapper were someone who had fully enjoyed what he'd seen.

"Wonderful! That was such a beautiful show! You've put on a better spectacle than I've ever expected!" It was a man of course. He was dressed in a dark cloak, similar to the people who had just attacked them, made of a black, leathery hide, probably snake. He had black hair like Mikan's shachou, very black, like a raven's, but a white masquerade mask covered his eyes.

"Who…who are you?" My voice had dwindled quite a bit. The day's events had taken its toll. I had Mikan in a protective embrace.

"Who I am does not matter. But if you insist on a name, then you may use Persona." He chuckled as if thinking of some inside joke.

"Persona…" It sounded like someone from some random cheesy play.

"That's right. Now be a good little girl as to hand your friend over. Resistance _is_ futile." Persona was smiling, but the smile had a thousand threats behind it.

"No."

He didn't react much to that.

"No? I thought so, seeing the way you fought off my people." A low groan from nearby told me the guy I'd taken down with my baton was still alive. And there was still that one person that I'd forgotten about in the heat of everything. I saw him or her helping up the one on the ground.

"Master…we failed capturing them ourselves. Please forgive us." It was a woman who spoke. This time, I could tell it was a woman.

"No, no. All of you provided a fantastic show. Now. Please detain that young lady as I take this girl with me. I really must be going now."

"No!" But it really was futile as my baton was wrenched from my hands and I was pinned to the ground with my hands behind my back.

"Be a good little girl." Crooned the guy in my ear as he pressured my arms. It hurt.

"Oh yes. And leave a message to little old Natsume that Akiri sent me. Yes. That would be amusing to watch." The man was beginning to talk to himself. "And just leave her somewhere for Natsume to find will you?" He smirked then. And I was forcefully reminded of Mikan's shachou again. How were they so similar?

But Mikan…!

"Mikan, snap out of it!" The poor girl was still bewildered at what she had done. Her face had a grey pallor to it and there was no spark in her eyes. She was a mere shadow of what she was an hour ago.

"Come with me, little Mikan. If you do, I won't kill your friend."

I watched helplessly as he led Mikan into a long sleek black Mercedes. Did everyone have those kinds of things lately?

"Sleep tight, princess." At first I felt nothing, that was when the blow first landed, but then the pain erupted and I saw stars, then blackness.

* * *

A/N: So…what'd you think? I can't believe this would actually count as one of my long chapters.


	14. Far From Home: Mikan

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of its characters!!!!!

Hmm. The confusion is starting to be a bit of an issue. Maybe I should dedicate chapters solely to the thoughts and actions of its designated POV person. I'm going to use "Oo" to signify small _moments_ of action and thought that are from other characters besides the ones whose POV we are looking through. And to lessen the confusion for this chapter, I'm letting you know ahead of time that THIS IS DEDICATED TO MIKAN'S POV. And the rest will be told in third person. And, along the way, I might have a couple flashbacks. Oh, and by the way, the new hip way of putting breaks in events is:

Oo

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Far From Home

Where did Hotaru go? Why wasn't she here? Could she be-?

I suddenly felt another conscience enter my mind.

_Shut up little brat, she's gone, they probably killed her. _

It was that voice again, the same voice that had been saying such soothing things in my head before taking control of my body. And then I couldn't remember anything after that…except-

_Stay still! I can't concentrate with you struggling so much. _

But I wasn't moving…at least not physically from however much I could tell.

_Just stop thinking already. It's tiring me out. If you get your control back, the shock of reality can be enough to kill you. And that won't be so good for me, will it?_

I wished that this annoying voice would just stop cutting off my train of thoughts. I was so close to remembering exactly how I'd…killed…how I'd killed a man with my bare hands…

Oh my god. I was going to kill someone. I killed someone. I _had_ killed someone…was I going to die too? Hotaru…

The other conscience was gone.

Oo

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"A mighty fine specimen, a very fine specimen," He said this while looking at the girl besides him and took a sip out of a water bottle, which he had brandished from his black cloak. The things he kept in that thing were about as mysterious as his name.

Persona.

He looked at the similarly cloaked figure sitting across from him. She seemed to be fidgeting slightly in discomfort.

"Again. I ask for forgiveness. We did not expect-"

"And again, let me tell you, as long as we have what we want. And we do. I trust Mark is taking care of the other one?"

The woman nodded.

Silence reigned in the car once more.

The woman broke it by pointing out, "She's panicking."

Persona looked over at the girl. She was indeed beginning to shake, her hands coming up to grip her arms, as if she might lose herself lest she let go. "Oh I'm sure she'll be fine. It's just a little aftershock."

"Sir. I think we should restrain her just in case."

"I think I might just get rid of that annoying little voice that keeps telling me what to do," A smile graced his lips, although whether it was in jest or in all seriousness, his mask kept the woman from knowing. Of course that was what it was for in the first place.

"Yuka."

Yuka almost flinched at the use of her name. Hadn't she always been careful not to draw attention to that specific piece of information? "Yes, master?"

"I'm surprised that you actually show interest in this girl. You usually don't care whether a specimen lives or dies...you cannot hide your eyes from me."

Yuka fought to keep from flinching and looking away, for that would merely add to the obviousness of her rattled nerves. "…She is a special case. It's not that often that we are given a task this intriguing."

"True…true." Even though the mask helped hide the upper part of his face, it wasn't hard to tell that he was watching her, waiting for some wrong reaction.

And Yuka knew that it wouldn't be long before something did go wrong.

Oo

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It hurts, it hurts, why won't the pain stop? Nothing had ever hurt this much before. The truth hurt.

The voice hadn't said a word since reality had roughly shoved me back. It didn't seem like it was going to come back anyways. I wanted it to stay that way. It only made me miss everyone more, Hotaru, Ruka-pyon, jii-san, Agano-sempai…even that mean shachou. Why couldn't I go back to them? I wanted to go back to them. I really did…

"No! Let me out of here!" I lashed out with a fist. I didn't care who I hit, just as long as it made contact with something hard enough to give me some savage satisfaction. Since when had I been so wild?

"You little-!"

My fist was stopped in mid punch. And another was returned, several times the force.

Bam!

The sound of my head cracking against something harder than glass wasn't very reassuring. But it took away the pain torturing me from the inside for a while. However, the absence of that pain was followed by the agony resounding from the impact of my head on what seemed like bulletproof glass. "Ow…"

"Control yourself, Yuka-san. It's important that the child is not damaged. That wouldn't be good for the researchers now would it?" The man was using a manner of tone that suggested he was enjoying all of this immensely. I looked up to try and make an attempt at collecting my thoughts and assessing just who exactly made up my current company. And saw a pair of hazel eyes that unexpectedly reminded me of my own. But before I could say anything, let alone gape for a couple seconds, the hazel in those eyes suddenly began to swirl and slowly, a different color began to bleed into it.

A bloody red.

I found that I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. They began to close unbidden to me and I was powerless to stop them. However, it was a secret relief to me to not have to look at those eyes anymore for the time being. There was just too much sadness in them.

Oo

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What was wrong with me today? _I've heard of flashbacks, but this is getting plain ridiculous. _That is…_if_ these were really my actual was no use trying to deny the truth anymore. There was no way these "recollections" could possibly exist without me having experienced them first.

However, in this particular memory, the air wasn't cold and frigid anymore like my previous ones were.

My clothes were different again. I looked down to see myself dressed lightly in a small dirt brown dress that looked worse for wear and I was barefoot. The ground radiated the heat it had collected from the sun's rays. I assumed it was noontime.

"Mikan! Come back inside, it is not good for little girls to run around in the sun and play in the dirt like a boy."

I turned to see an elderly grandma, who reminded me of baasan, who I always used to see in jiisan's pictures. Her voice was one of scolding, but her eyes spoke differently. They shined with the same compassion and kindness that were in jiisan's and, suddenly, my heart ached so terribly.

"Mikan…?" she repeated, sounding a bit taken aback. Did she already suspect that the Mikan she knew wasn't the same as the one standing before her? "Mikan, little one, why are you crying?"

My eyes had gotten hot after I'd felt the aching feeling inside me and soon I was trying to blink away tears. Why_ was_ I crying? But the aching feeling wouldn't go away and, soon, I felt so melancholy. But then a word sprang unbidden to my tongue, "Gran mama...!" My feet moved by themselves and brought me running as fast as I could to the kind, old woman, and buried my face in the apron she had tied to her front. The tears were pouring by now, but, this time, they came from my own will. All I wanted to do was bawl my eyes out and be comforted by this grandma, who reminded me so much of jiisan back at home, a place that seemed so far away.

"Oh little one. Did one of village boys bully you? They never know how to properly treat a girl." She had her hand on my head and was gently smoothing it back as she consoled me with endearments.

I shook my head to answer her question. Then I finally looked up after a few more minutes of sobbing, eyes red and tear-stained, and managed to choke out, "I…May I eat later, Gran mama? I don't feel hungry right now. Can I go visit, Ruka?" I wasn't sure why I'd mentioned Ruka when he probably didn't even exist yet, but my mouth continued to move accordingly by itself.

"Why, of course! First drink some water. It's very hot outside and I don't want you getting too thirsty. It's good for girls to drink plenty of water in order to stay healthy." The grandma seemed happy to spoil her granddaughter. That was about all I had managed to deduce from this memory. This elderly lady was someone who had taken care of me, loved me, and wanted me to live the best life possible. But, the problem was, this life wasn't the life I lived now. This was the life that only someone a couple hundred years ago should've lived. This was something that probably happened before I was born.

Oo

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"She'll stay sleeping until we can properly contain her." Yuka continued to watch the unconscious girl, her face apparently screwed up as if crying. _Mikan…_

"Yes, yes, that's good enough, although I would've so enjoyed it if she'd been awake just a little longer. I would've shown her something fun."

This man…Yuka didn't want to think about it any longer. No one within their organization knew his true abilities. It was so the unknown factor would keep anyone from turning against him, inducing fear from the possible incredibly inhumane consequence that might be inflicted upon those caught. Yuka kept her eyes locked firmly on the sleeping form of the girl, for she could feel the masked eyes of the one who had graced her thoughts not but mere moments ago. It took years of practice to train to keep her body in a relaxed state and her voice calm and unwavering.

"Yuka."

"Yes?"

"Try not to think too much."

"…Yes, sir." She was off the hook, for now.

Oo

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_Has it been hours?_ The possibility of that was unnerving. Unlike most dreams, this one actually had the sense of time, where it practically felt like you'd entered it bodily and it had become a reality. I could even feel the sun-beaten grass between my toes, which was what I'd been feeling for what seemed like the past three hours. I didn't think it was even possible to find Ruka in this dream, in this timeline to be exact. My newly discovered grandmother, whom I never knew had existed, had let me out to play and do what little kids often did. And I'd been dumb enough to go running off in some random direction with no idea as to where a possibly non-existent person may be.

And that was when I felt my feet guiding me down a pathway I hadn't noticed in my misdirected stupor. The road was rocky and anything but a well-traveled route. The trees were overgrown here and shadows lingered in places where it shouldn't have. It wasn't very surprising when I came upon a small hut, about as shady and overgrown with vines as its environment. My heart missed a couple beats. Here went nothing.

"Hey! Ruka are you there?...Anyone?" I listened hard from my vantage point of the small hut. "Well, I guess no one's home. Maybe I'll head back-"

"And where do you think you're going?"

That couldn't have been…no…I turned slowly until I came face to face with someone who I never thought I'd see again.

"I _said_, where do you think you're going besides with me, pigtails?" A small punch was all it would've taken to wipe the smirk off his face, but I held the small thought of violence back. My relief and joy was too strong to be ignored.

"Sha…Natsume!" Throwing my hands open in abandon, I fell right into him, wrapping my arms around his small frame, slightly broader than my own. It was enough to see at least someone I somewhat knew. "Natsume!"

"Shut up, I already heard you the first time. Geez…" He sounded so angry, but he couldn't have been since I felt his own arms tighten around me. "What's got you so worked up?"

I really couldn't think in those few moments. I didn't ask any questions as to why he was here, why he talked to me with such familiarity, and, most curious of all, what was he to me? None of that occurred even once in my company-starved brain. It was just me, Natsume, and the friendly hug we shared.

Then I began thinking again.

"Aah!" The push I sent his way somehow backfired and I went flying instead, landing butt first into a convenient pile of leaves.

"What's your problem?" he hissed, his face flushed, probably from my sudden outburst.

"I-I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me!" That was an outright lie. I had asked too many questions and panicked. That was the easiest answer. It was then that he held out a hand to help me up. I stared at it for a couple seconds, scrutinizing it as if observing to see if it had the ability of biting.

"When someone offers their hand to you, you grab it." I looked sharply up at him, at his tone of voice. Then, grudgingly, I took his hand and was pulled up about as easily as a rag doll.

"…thanks." I muttered almost inaudibly. I took this time to sneak a peek at the younger version of my shachou's face. It actually was rather amusing to see him with his cheeks a bit more rounded and…like a child. But his eyes were the same, they looked tired, tired and opened to too much of the world.

"What are you looking at?" he snapped.

Geez, what a stooge, I couldn't help but think that instinctively and a small giggle escaped my lips before I could stifle the rising laughter.

"What is with you these days, no wait, these past ten minutes?" he didn't look that displeased.

"Sorry. I'm just out of it today. Where's Ruka? I wanted to go play with him?" Again, the words were just tumbling out of my mouth once more. "Did you see him anywhere?"

An irritated look replaced the not-so-displeased one. "Well that's funny. The last time I checked, his house was about a quarter of a mile that way." He pointed in the exact opposite direction.

I wasn't sure exactly what to say, just stared a bit at that hand pointing in the direction of Ruka's house. A new revelation had just crossed my mind. He was older than he looked. The hug that we had shared earlier had flashed back inside my mind and I was reminded once more of how it'd felt with his arms around me. Those arms, they had been warm, and not unfamiliar. They felt like the same arms that had wrapped around me when I'd been drowning in a dream state. Was that how we'd met? Could I be an old lady and just not look the part? There was no way I could've existed so long ago and still look how I did today. Apparently, Natsume, if what was going on wasn't exactly natural, was the same as me. He had a similar thing going on with mine. I was starting to really doubt my humanity, or at least part of it.

"Hey. Will you stop drifting off every time I try talking to you?" His voice brought me back to the strange dream-like reality I was currently in.

"How…how old are you? And…do you know how old I am too?" I really did feel childish then asking this.

"Why?"

"Ummm, cuz I don't think you ever told me and you know how I always forget my birthday!" It was another badly attempted lie, for it was actually pretty true.

"I'm fourteen and you're turning eleven soon. That's all I'm letting you know. You're going to have to remember your own birthday on your own time."

"You're so mean, Natsume-kun!" I almost clapped a hand in shock over my mouth. Had I just called him what I think I did? Was it even possible for something like this to occur in the universes? But for all I knew, things like this probably happened every day in this one.

He definitely noticed my surprise because he gave me a look to match mine. "That finally seems like something you'd usually say."

"Oh…well then, how did we first meet?" It really had seemed like quite the innocent question when I'd first decided to ask it.

"Sakura…" Was it me or had he completely changed personalities there? His usual demeanor was suddenly replaced by a distant look and his eyes appeared to be slightly clouded over as if reminiscing. Was our first meeting really that emotional?

"Natsu-mph!" It was official. My brain had turned into total jelly and I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. This was bending reality, it couldn't have been meant to be.

Natsume Hyuuga could _not_ be kissing me this very moment!

Not when we were only kids right now in this time and space! I was only eleven for god sakes!

"Mmph!" I made a futile sound of protest. And that was when I felt something foreign in my mouth.

_Oh my kami! That's his TONGUE!_

My legs went limp too. Kids back then really didn't do this kind of stuff, did they? These blurred, hazy thoughts skimmed through my jellied brain. It felt so good.

I had closed my eyes a while ago and was merely enjoying the moment. And it was then that I felt as if I were floating, ever so gently, upwards and Natsume's warm embrace was gone, so were his lips. My eyes refused to open.

Oo

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"When did you find her?"

"Last night, as I was coming out of the building."

_Who's speaking right now?_

"Did you sense _them_?"

"No. The trail was long dead by the time I got to her."

_Them? Who was them?_

"Hey, I think she's coming to!"

_Why does he sound so familiar? _

Hotaru groaned as she brought her hand to the back of her head, only to withdraw it quickly with a short hiss of pain, flecks of drying blood smeared on her hand. She looked around her and saw that it was morning and she was in an office of some sort. Her vision cleared a bit more and she found herself focused on the two occupants of the room. It was Mikan's shachou and another man, probably his assistant, she deduced. She spent several seconds wondering why the hell she was in this situation when the events of last night struck her already fatigued mind like a charging truck. She fell back and was caught by the shachou's assistant, whatever his name was. Her head was throbbing hard. She felt a something warm being pressed to the back of her head.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to do anything until you were conscious."

He had a nice voice she thought as her mind began getting fuzzy, but she didn't say so out loud. Or maybe she did because she thought she saw his face turn red. Her head hurt so much, but she felt like she still needed to do one last thing. She turned her head slightly to see the shachou kneeling down besides her as well. And then she remembered what she wanted to say.

"He wants me to tell you that Akiri sent him."

"What?" his voice sounded like he was genuinely agonized. Or was it? She couldn't really tell right now. Her eyes quivered and then closed, bringing her into the world full of untold stories and fantasies.

A/N: So, what'd you guys think? I sure took a hell of a long time getting that to come out didn't I? You guys must hate me now. Nuuuu! Don't hate me!.........Sorry about that. It's past midnight right now for me and I'm kinda not as awake. Updates will happen again in the future, although whether it be near or not will need to be foreseen.


	15. A Path Shown: Natsume

This is dedicated to Natsume's POV.

DISCLAIMER: All I do own is the plot, my words, and an orange.

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**The Path Shown**

"Get away from me!"

"Natsume, calm down! You're going to wake her up!"

"Calm down. Calm down! Mikan is in the hands of that dirty son of a bitch! The things he'd do to her…" My senses had gone numb, my eyes blurred, my sense of smell dulled.

_No, no, NO! This shouldn't be happening!_ Had I really grown in power? Or was I still the helpless child long ago? I looked down at my hands, whether they were shaking with rage, or vulnerability, I didn't know. _Discipline. God knows how much I have._

A brief silence recurred. "...No. You're right, Ruka. I… need a few minutes." And was out the door and up the stairwell to the apex of the roof. How much trouble would this one nuisance of my kind give me? The number was infinite.

The girl lying back there on the couch, Mikan's friend obviously, was the living proof of what happened to her. The words she had uttered before falling back unconscious again repeated itself in my mind. Over and over.

_"Akiri. They told me someone named Akiri."_

I watched the overcast sky from my rooftop view. "It's going to rain soon, " I muttered to myself. It was then that, without my conscious decision, I heard my lips whispering their greatest desire. "Whatever divine being resides in those heavens, take it to heart to grant one wish to a damned man, just one… Give me direction."

BOOM!

A single crack of thunder struck in the sky and blinded my eyes for a second. Then the rain came, pouring in floods, soaking my clothes down to the quick, although I could not feel any of it. As my eyes sharpened once more, some of the illumination still lingered within my sight. And, there, I honed in on the light to see, with great revelation that it hung over a single building beyond what the human eye could see.

The AAO company building stood in the far distance miles away, the brilliance of the lightning even now continuing to fade from where it had struck the rooftop's generator.

I had been given my direction.

Oo

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Akiri paced back and forth within his extravagantly decorated office. He watched the navy blue BMW pull in to the underground parking of his building. It was enough to have the generator blown during the freak storm, but he'd nearly hurled his desk out the window after seeing his plan of returning to his company instead of retreating to some hideout in the mountains had backfired. Like the attempted assassination earlier, he had underestimated the man's abilities. He grudgingly admitted that Natsume, similar to him, wasn't short of walking straight into open fire in broad daylight. But unlike himself, he came _alone_.

Perhaps the man was just proving himself as stupid as he first saw him to be. He himself had at least brought _some_ sort of backup. Deep inside, however, he felt the tugging of uncertainty. He pressed a button on his office phone and said, "Usui, we have a most refined guest coming today. He should be arriving in about a minute. Please welcome him to your fullest extent."

A smooth male voice answered back, "Yes, Master Sugoishi."

Akiri smiled complacently. Things were going to go his way from now on.

Oo

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"What are you, some kind of footman?"

"Welcome to our humble headquarters, Mr. Hyuuga. I am merely greeting you beforehand. What brings you to our-" The speaker, a male vampire of considerable years, stood with mouth open in mid-sentence and half his head disconnected from the body.

"Enough. You know why I'm here."

"Why of course. How rude of me, although you should know to treat your elders better." The decapitated body scolded and smiled while reaching down to pick up the other half of its head and placed it where it belonged. Electric blue eyes stared emotionlessly back at me.

A quick swipe left a light cut across my chest as I stepped back to avoid the brunt of it. Pathetic. But I knew it was meant as merely a minor threat.

"I'm afraid he's not available right now. Perhaps I could take a message for him?"

"Tell him this then," I moved close enough to whisper, close enough to kill. "I'm coming for you. Bastard."

"I'll tell him that."

The freezing of my body took a matter of seconds. However, it only took one to break through his ribcage.

"I'm afraid we'll have to consider this a draw, Mr. Hyuuga, and for simple reasons. I have friends and you don't."

Counting from scent, approximately seven of our kind surrounded me on cue. Who knew the AAO's staff could rival mine? Only four were visible from where I stood. One of the two females, a dark haired woman, was dressed in a top that bared most of her chest.

_Hardly an appropriate office uniform._ It wasn't hard to determine the element she Realized.

The rest were dressed relevant to their profession.

"I'm afraid I can't accept that." I could rip out his heart easily and be frozen and broken in two, but the odds would still tilt towards him. And then it would be 100 to 1 for Akiri.

"But you wouldn't want to die before you can hold your lovely girl in your arms again? Of course, she'd be dead before that ever happens anyway."

_How that rings so true. Common knowledge. But there's something familiar about him. Who…? _

"Stranger Uncle. It's such a _pleasure_ to see you again."

"So quick to forget, Natsume. You should've realized that sooner."

"Yes, but I'm still wondering. How did you manage to escape certain death by the hands of that man's newly adopted son? Did you beg?"

The uncle, that I wouldn't have minded to have stayed lost for all eternity, took it all in stride. There wouldn't be much of him left if he didn't. It was too bad I was going to waste all that hard work by killing him.

"Get rid of him, Renji. Kill him now so he won't bother us in the future." The scantily dressed female hissed from my right. Since when did companies have such low uniform standards?

There was a loud shriek and I peered from peripheral vision, which was as good as any, and saw that the woman was clutching at her arm. Except there really wasn't much of it left. Light blue shards of ice littered the floor.

"No one gives me orders."

The seven were no more than guardians and spectators. "Don't forget. I can still kill you while you're distracted."

"You seem to forget that I've taken a few centuries to make sure my concentration doesn't waver from my focus." It had taken the span of those few centuries to blur the memories of this particular relative of mine. I had completely forgotten about what element he possessed, let alone his face.

"Silly Natsume. You drive less than five miles in your little car only to have your little escapade end in the parking lot of your most hated person. Your stupidity ceases to amaze me."

"So do yours." And I crushed the heart of my uncle.

The rage and shock that flashed across his emotionless features was more than satisfying. His mouth moved, forming the words that were supposed to kill me. Unfortunately, they fell short as his body went slack and refused to function without a particularly important organ. His eyes were frozen in a stare at the ground where the dripping remains of his ice made a large puddle on the floor.

"You…" His eyes widened on mine and I watched them empty, his withered soul escaping from a cursed body. If he were the only survivor of Akiri's wrath, then _only_ Akiri and I now remained possible heirs to our clan. Tradition kept him bound as my brother.

"Well?" None had moved from where they stood. Even the loud, barely clad woman was silent.

"Wonderful indeed. Your element is fire."

I turned towards the speaker, one of the three that had been out of my line of vision. This one was the true leader of the gathering, working from amongst his own people.

"It takes at least a century to Realize your preferred element… and nine more to master. But from what I see, you still need to learn how to summon it by will. Renji had more use than I expected of him. He hid his element from us well only to have it wasted on you."

"I didn't think my Uncle would sit well with being the pawn." I flexed my fingers, feeling them out, testing how much firepower it would take to bring down at least six of them all at once. I immediately began targeting the four I now had behind me, while keeping this man in front. The loud woman was also a threat however and there were most likely a few more Realized ones.

"Ahh, but he never really figured it out himself, until it was too late." The man gestured towards the body behind me that should've already burned itself out by now. There would be nothing but a pile of ashes as proof that anything ever existed there.

I took a good once over of him. His aura felt level with the rest, but it took considerable control to suppress it to the current level. Akiri could never fully control someone with this kind of potential. He had to have connections further than a small organization such as this.

"Let us leave this dreadful parking lot and go somewhere more decent shall we? Say… the lobby perchance?"

Oo

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"You work wonders, Usui. But are you saying that you want your employer to meet a potential killer alone? Where's the tact in that?" Akiri was politely incensed. "Oh I know killing him just like that is a little too easy, but why would I repeat that same mistake again?"

"He says he's here for answers. And he would prefer to hear you give them. If you have any."

"And what if I don't have anything to do with whatever little inconvenience he's landed himself in now?"

"He wishes to see you right now. And I'm afraid we didn't give him enough credit…He had friends."

"What?" Akiri's voice had gone dangerously soft now. "Where is he now?"

"Currently scaling the side of the building at 90 mph and will reach your office in approximately thirteen seconds. Arm yourself."

He had his desk lamp hefted and ready for assault, facing the curtained glass windows in half a second.

CRASH!

The expensive bulletproof glass cracked and then was violently punched in by a tremendous force. Shards flew harmlessly into his face and body. There was no pain to be felt there.

He flung the heavy lamp with equivalent force at the curtains. A sickening thud was heard as the lamp struck something solid, only to return to its owner with a vengeance.

But Akiri was already on the move. He dodged the lamp while simultaneously reaching into a hidden cracked compartment within the appliance itself and pulling something out. He sneered in small triumph.

Oo

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_Those stupid idiots!_

I felt something sharp stab into my side, faster than my body could react.

_How had they known where I'd gone? I was so careful. _

The stake was driven deeper between two of my ribs towards the heart that maintained a soundless beat.

_They may die. _

"Give her back," I spoke coolly, despite the wound in my side. "You've crossed my line years ago. You were stupid enough to do it again."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you?"

"I don't miss my targets."

In that moment, I knew. He wasn't lying.

"Your power is already beginning to deteriorate," I began chuckling mirthlessly. "I pity you. You should've killed me when you had the potential."

I crossed his line. "NO!" Akiri roared in a sudden explosion of rage and rammed hard into my chest, bringing us both out the broken window. "I'M DIFFERENT! DIFFERENT FROM ALL OF YOU!"

Because of our ability to perceive the world more sharply than the average human, all things of nature seem slowed and sedated. In my eyes and all eyes like mine, the fall took hours. Our spoken words were blown away into the wind.

Oo

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"Why?" Akiri stared with a glazed look, his hair whipping all around his pale face. "Why did it have to be me?"

"…I don't know." Perhaps it was because of the air rushing past us, or the feeling of gravity weighing down our bodies, one of the few feelings we had left, but there seemed a break in time. And there came a moment for a concise lull.

"Do you know who we are? What we are? Do you know why things happen to our bodies the way they do?" His eyes narrowed in question.

"You have awakened too soon. And your body has begun its break down. You are now truly dying. That is who we are. Something within us is still alive, still capable of death. Even the supernatural can't give dead things a self-conscious."

"That means all of us aren't really vampires are we?"

"We fit most of the bill."

Akiri's snarl was snatched by the wind and thrown away. "Your father always thought of power first. But those turned are awakened at their 'birth'. Those born with the curse can either choose their time of awakening or can be forced into it."

"We aren't dead," I felt the words slip so easily past my lips. "But awakening takes away all of what is human. To some, that is what it means to die. You will pass away altogether soon, Akiri. But because of your suffering, which led ultimately to a harsh cruelty that murdered my family and hurt those I care for, I will kill you myself." A cold smile graced my lips as we passed the 8th floor.

"I'm sorry, but by the time you try, it'll be too late."

Oo

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He tore out the stake that he had driven into me and slammed it into the side of the building. He slipped his hand easily on to the broken glass of the window he had smashed and flung himself over into an office.

His farewell trailed after me as I continued my fall. "Goodbye, Natsume. We may not meet again." He smiled. It was a cold smile like mine had been, but it had something else there. And it was then that I knew what he said was also true.

I couldn't kill him, I never would. Because, I now understood, the cruelty that made him this way died within him long ago and all that was left was a burning anger, fueling him to retain the remnants of humanity. But now it was running out. I had already finished the deed back then. There was no more to be done.

"No, I won't have to see your ugly mug anymore after this. But you've left me with something." I let my frozen smile melt.

"You've given me an answer."

Oo

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"Is your boss always thinking in one direction?"

The BMW dragged into a not-so-subtle quiet as everyone crammed into the back seat held their breaths at such a direct insult to their hot-tempered shachou's face or at least his back since that was all they could see of him.

Ruka was shoved uncomfortably in the middle and shifted slightly as he replied. "I think Natsume always has a reason for the things he does, whatever it may be."

I knew all in the car could feel my displeasure emanating to them from the front, especially towards the particularly unwelcome volunteer sitting at his far right beside Misaki. What was her name again? It started with-

"Hotaru, you gotta know that it's also a talent of our shachou's to complete tasks successfully without exerting energy from his mind."

_Tsubasa you dumbass_. Did he really have to make things worse?

"You forget I have ears," I snapped. "And besides, everyone here is a supernatural creature in some form or way, for the exception of one. The girl. This isn't a safe place for you to be."

"I had the car ready."

"If you had the capability, why did we find you unconscious and injured at our doorstep?"

"Why aren't I already dead after encountering several of your Akiri's lackeys?"

"They weren't Akiri's."

The girl fell silent for a while and I kept my mouth shut for another counted 60 seconds before someone else's opened.

"Is that it?"

"What?"

"I mean, is that all? You risk your life breaking and entering into a building containing God knows how many people like us bent on ripping you apart and you find out their master really had nothing to do with it?" Tsubasa sounded angry, but this time, it was _at_ me. "I don't think you'd walk away from that without some other bit of compensation for such a waste of your time?"

"And almost a waste of all your lives? Who ever told you to come after me?"

"Because we care," Misaki, who had stayed silent throughout the ordeal, finally spoke up. "And because you mean more to us than a whole building's worth of them. I think we all want to be a bit more up-to-date on your plans so we can stand on firmer ground than what we have now so as not to have this _inconvenience _happen again."

There was another moment of silence in the car. And then Hotaru yawned waking things up once more.

"That's my girl for you." Quipped Tsubasa.

Ruka gave a small sigh as Misaki reached across him to slap her partner and ended up giving one to both of them.

"So what else _have _you found out?" Hotaru questioned.

_She cuts to the chase. I'll give her that._ "We can discuss that later. A BMW isn't the best place to spill your guts. We meet after we get back," I heard the barest intake of breath as the dissatisfied girl opened her mouth to retort. "They won't kill her. And we need more time to come up with an appropriate plan."

"Better than your most recent one, hopefully." This girl really had to have the last word.

It was in my favor to be mute. And the rest of their brief adventure ended in a quiet lull as he pulled into Alice Corp's underground parking lot.

Oo

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"Where the _hell_ were all of you! Especially you! Natsume!" One of the two main chief supervisors of the building roared. "People expect the shachou to act as one would, not go driving off into certain death with several of the staff!"

The incensed Jinno continued his relentless charade. I knew better than to attempt any exercise of professional power. It was better to wait out the storm.

"Tell me now, what _happened_ during your little escapade? What precious information have you deemed from all that?"

Narumi sighed as he watched all those involved crowding around the seething supervisor.

And so we began our retelling of the brief, but somewhat necessary adventure.

"Who said you could come with us!" Ruka whispered fiercely. Tsubasa leaned against a wall as Misaki crossed her arms. One had an amused smirk painted on his face and the other merely looked exasperated. An incensed statistician was something to be remembered.

"I don't remember any of you really being _allowed_ to go anywhere either." Hotaru stared at him with flat eyes. Behind those eyes was the glint of a stubborn mule-turned scientist.

"She's got a point."

Ruka resisted to turn and glare at speaker and, instead, snapped, "We can't afford to raise our chances anymore for the possibility of a casualty! It's bad enough that we broke several company and social rules trying to follow a hotheaded manager."

"Anxiety makes your mouth one heck of a motor boat." Misaki couldn't help but comment on this as she tried to hold back her laughter.

"I'm not-!"

"I can prove useful."

"You mean dropping in a dead faint? Yes, you prove to have considerable talent at that."

An intelligent human and a potentially dangerous creature stared each other down in a parking lot.

_That ignorant, undisciplined, troublesome girl! If I had my way… _

"What would you do if you had your way? Get rid of me? That would be contradicting what you were telling me earlier."

"Wha-?"

"You muttered that out loud. When you think, you tend to speak your mind at moments."

"Very nice. I give you at least half a minute's chance." Smirked Tsubasa.

"Seeing as you're apparently best friends with Mikan, you must have encountered and seen for yourself what we are. How do you know to trust us like this? How do you know that we won't eat you after we find what we want?" Misaki asked this with a faraway look in her eyes, remembering moments when such faith held no existence.

Hotaru looked at her as if she couldn't comprehend why she hadn't understood. "Just a feeling."

"You rely on only a feeling?" Tsubasa clicked his tongue in poorly hidden disapproval. "There must be more reason than that."

"Mikan tends to trust people much too quickly, but even she knows when there needs to be a limit to the amount she places in people. But I know that you and your boss currently hold all that she has. So if she can trust you so thoroughly, so can I."

Ruka kept quiet as he mulled over what she said. "At least you're good at keeping inconspicuous, admirable for someone like you."

"I can do that and much more."

"So you proclaim."

Tsubasa straightened up unexpectedly. He had a satisfied smile turning up the corners of his mouth. "Coast clear. Retrieval of our company shachou will commence."

Hotaru thought it may have been a trick of the light, but she swore that something in the corner of the wall Tsubasa had just been leaning on a few seconds ago had shifted enough to get her attention.

He noticed her scrutiny. "That's a special ability of mine. A manipulation of the shadow that inhabited the area was all that was. It's also useful for preventing detection." He raised an eyebrow when the strange human girl whipped out a camera from the purse she had since they'd found her. There was a notable click as she snapped a photo of what appeared to be constantly moving shadows in a supposedly inactive corner.

He shifted into a more stable position. The waiting was over.

"Let's kick some ass." Growled a suddenly menacing Misaki. Her mood had kept a mild temper for the most part. Now it was as if there stood another person in her shoes.

"Do what you can." Ruka prompted. He then closed his eyes.

Hotaru watched with some interest, as she became one of the few humans to witness Wrath take place in one of the more dangerous beasts in the food chain and live to tell the tale. She blinked.

They were gone.

"What do you wish to know, Mr. Hyuuga? Is it to recognize why my master did those things to you and your family in the past? There are times when not even the accused themselves know exactly why or even understand their own minds completely."

The lobby of the AAO resembled Alice Corp's so that I wondered whether they hired the same room decorator.

"That is a question long answered for me. However, I wouldn't say the same for you. Your boss can't even keep his own followers from doubting his capabilities. I'm here for a matter I wish to settle with only Akiri. I won't hesitate to kill you if you get in my way."

"Ah, you wish to know more on your girl? There's that infamous glare of yours. It means Renji hit all the right buttons. Still, he remains useful in death. Honey, is Master Sugoishi available right now? The Alice Corporation's shachou wishes to see him."

"No, I'm afraid he's not." Replied the scandalously clad woman in time with her superior.

What a stupid name.

"Oh and wait. It's what I'm hired for. Getting in your way." He snapped his fingers once.

I suddenly sensed three new presences in that exact second.

Misaki could feel the power just hovering beneath her fingertips. This time, when she had entered the beginning stages of Wrath, she had Realized, however slightly, a small sense of her element. Perhaps today would be the day she received it completely.

_Natsume needs time. Distraction. _

Tsubasa could feel the thought like a vibration within his mind. There were no spoken words, just a slight disruption in the air. He nodded in silent agreement.

They were standing on either side of a glass window that looked into the lobby.

The attack was the sound of breaking glass.

"Ah…" the one who had been struck, a sturdy male, made this last sound before his chest was pierced through by a man's pale hand. He collapsed to the ground. And simultaneously with his fall, another, this time a female, fell suit. Something had taken a chunk out of her neck.

Craving carnage, Misaki threw herself on to a female dressed differently from the others. It was an underestimation. This woman had the burning aura of Realization. She was suddenly thrown back out into an adjacent wall, smashing a decorative vase.

"How disappointing. I've always liked that jar."

"Ugh!" An intense compression crushed Misaki's chest. She heard several ribs crack.

"Stupid girl. You're out of your league. I've had at least a century more experience than you." Although her top had been shredded considerably and a few gashes in her side, there were no other places of injury. The woman's slit pupils gazed distastefully into hers, in which she noticed that they were a light gray.

"I won't fall for your tricks." She tore her eyes away from the deadly ones.

"Ah, but you already have." Suddenly, Misaki felt as if all she ever wished for in the world was to satisfy this woman's needs. She wished this with every pore in her being.

Tsubasa watched in a kind of morbid fascination as the shimmering outline of a Stalker could be vaguely seen near the woman who had just gone down with a neck wound. Gradually, more and more of her flesh appeared to be disappearing. Shards of bone would appear around what little he could see of the beast Ruka had managed to summon. He had always wondered why he hadn't ever heard of any assassins that went after him.

"Don't look away, boy." Came a deep voice from in front of him.

His head tilted to the right in fast reaction to something that went flying past his ear. There was an acute pain and wetness in the side of his temple and his eyes narrowed at having failed in completely dodging the projectile. Another followed immediately, which on closer inspection he saw that it was some special kind of saliva. He crouched low to match his opponent's four-legged stance. This man took on the form of a beast in the phases of Wrath. He had an elongated nose and cannibal teeth that went hand in hand with his strange stance.

Tsubasa resisted from flinching as pain suddenly blossomed where he had made contact with the saliva, which then began increasing in its intensity.

"Oh dear. Looks like I got you."

Tsubasa began edging slowly to his right, despite the incredible burning sensation on his temple. As he surmised, the man mirrored his movement.

Perfect.

"You're wasting your talents in this pathetic group. You have a lot of potential, boy."

"Don't waste your breath." Tsubasa touched his hand lightly to the ground. The angle was just right. Where there was light, there was shadow.

They were outnumbered. But only four had actually been engaged in any efforts to battle. The other two and their leader were after Natsume. However, their moment of distraction had been more than enough. The man was long gone. Now two were coming back, their leader missing from amongst them.

Red veins stood out on Ruka's pale skin as he ordered the Stalker to attack. Wrath could only increase his Realization by so much.

They… were twins. He snarled as both approached him, angry that he hadn't seen the danger earlier. There was a power only those identical to each other could share. It reduced personality, but enhanced all abilities within the psyche.

"I am Chikoku." Both spoke as one, their voices never varying once from each other's, although they were male and female. Everything about them was identical besides that, all the way down to the last ruffle in their uniforms. Both had irises that were split into two separate colors, a deep green and milky white. The slit pupil fell on both colors. They continued to speak in a single voice, "You will leave here whole in body, but unsound in mind. Truly the wicked are who? Realizations are soon to come. Stay careful to keep assets and nuisances apart. And only then will the answer to your friend's soul be found, through death and time."

Ruka released the Stalker at last after sensing that the restraints keeping it leashed to the Earth was breaking. "Those seeing like you have always enjoyed speaking in riddles." And then he disappeared for a moment from view to reappear behind them. "If I end up surviving, I don't intend to give you the same privilege."

"You are foolish." Ruka fell to one knee, his mind suddenly assaulted with relentless pain.

Misaki hissed at her torn limb. Her arm lay thrown with abandon on the lobby's couch and the woman with the Realization of pheromones smiled at her.

"See? You are willing to do anything for me, even kill yourself slowly."

Tsubasa sensed the danger she was in. He grinned cockily at the man with the Realization of the Fox. "How can you cut my throat when you can't move?"

The sly smile that had been playing on the man's lips slid off like water. "What?" He tried leaping into the air to claw out the insolent young man's face, but found his legs immobilized completely. "What did you do!?"

"You are my prey now. I can choose your death whether I want to or not. But I prefer a trade." He turned his head so he could speak over his shoulder. "I want you, woman, to release Misaki from your pheromone or I kill your friend."

"What do I care about that worthless beast?" But the dilation of her eyes told something different.

Tsubasa lashed out with his foot, although he merely kicked the space between him and his victim. The man screamed in agony as there were several cracks and his leg went askew. The delight in hearing his pain that lit Tsubasa's eyes was engrossing. Only the sufferer himself could see it, the intensity in those dark blue pools.

Misaki struggled against this power that felt like it was pressing down on her from all sides of her body. "No…" She managed out at last. "Tsubasa…stop it. Stop it, you're losing too much of yourself to Wrath." She nearly cried out as she felt herself being driven over the edge once more. Her own wrath combined with Tsubasa's overpowering insanity was consuming her as well.

"Release her and I'll release him." Tsubasa spoke again, this time with finality. If things went wrong, death would visit the room one way or another.

"Honey." The woman appeared to flinch. She turned to look at the man.

"Satoru."

Satoru suddenly leered. There was a quick flash of movement and Tsubasa's knee gave way.

However, Misaki found a rift in Honey's concentration in that same second. The enraged woman snarled when she was struck from behind.

Blood was long soaked into the carpet.

Two wounded male vampires faced each other, each with identical injuries.

"I've already analyzed your Realization. Your shadow acts almost like a parasite. As long as you have me trapped, I become a part of you."

"I underestimated your abilities. It won't happen again." His flesh healed over.

He then heard an underlying cry.

_Help me_.

The call was so strong that all the receivers in the building were lightly grazed by it. There was a brief lull in Misaki's bloody delight at her victim's agony. Tsubasa's eyes glazed over as he reached out with his mind towards that call. It was a call coming from across the lobby, yet it sounded like it had been spoken clearly into their ears.

Misaki felt the power. It was in her chest. It felt as if all seemed right in the world, even though it wasn't and that she had left an opening for the enemy to rip her apart.

_Keep them busy, you two._

Her physical form split in three.

There was a snarl of surprise and Tsubasa released the immobile Satoru, who was suddenly brought down by Misaki.

Honey crouched to sprint to her partner's help when four sharp nails lodged themselves into her back.

"You're looking the wrong way." Misaki dealt a crippling blow.

Koku pulled his sister out of the doppelganger's killing path.

Ruka felt Misaki's presence… in several different places.

"The first realization comes." Chi whispered.

"She is fresh," Koku sniffed the air. "And delicious."

"The new ones taste best." Chikoku growled with a depraved hunger.

"Too bad. You'll have to stick with, 'Up yours, assholes'."

CRASH!

A BMW found its way through one of the glass windows in the lobby. A door was flung open.

"Get in." Natsume was at the wheel. A closer look inside revealed another person sitting in the back with an unperturbed look on her face.

"No!" Screamed Chi, her deathly pale face creased in fury at allowing her prey to escape. She reached out with her mind to disable Misaki, while her brother physically tried to hold her down.

The car door slammed shut.

And drove away.

The doppelgangers lost their stability and dispersed into thin air leaving not a trace behind. Misaki's arm was missing from the couch.

Hotaru sat in her corner, the rest of the space being taken up by her reluctant collaborators.

Ruka was muttering something about underage driving. Tsubasa kept stealing glances at Misaki, despite having been denied to aid her injuries in any way.

The backseat was somehow miraculously clean.

Hotaru blinked.

They really did live up to their reputation of instant recovery.

She suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. There was someone who was watching them leave, someone who had their eyes trained _specifically_ on her. She whipped her head back.

Perhaps it was a trick of the light, although she knew that that was no mere shadow she had glimpsed through the sun-stained glass windows of the building from which they had narrowly made their escape. Why hadn't she sensed this before? There was something familiar about the way her neck tingled like that from merely being watched. Could it be-?

"I can smell your unease," said Misaki, startling her. "Don't think too much about it. You've done adequately."

Irritated at her own obviousness, Hotaru tried a change at subject.

"Is your boss always thinking in one direction?"

Oo

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As the girl finished up the story, I made a decision. It involved Ruka however.

"I see," Said the passive Narumi. "So that's where you guys have been for the past…" He glanced at his watch. "Translated to more understandable terms, to Jinno-san, this is equivalent to leaving for several days. Our kind can do so much in ten seconds. Imagine what may have occurred in half an hour?"

"When will the promised meeting be?" demanded Jinno.

"In five minutes." I replied sharply.

Everyone in the room gave a small nod.

I watched it empty slowly, Jinno and Narumi rushing off to their offices first. Then Tsubasa left with Misaki, most likely to convince her to let him check whether her arm was properly reattached. The Hotaru girl took her time. She trailed out after Tsubasa and Misaki, probably to have a good look around before bullying Ruka into letting her in on the meeting. The aforementioned person was about to follow her in order to keep her from dismantling anything when I stopped him.

"Wait. I need to talk to you for a minute."

"What is it, Natsume?"

"I…" Was this the right thing to do? What would the consequences be if it went awry? To hell with it_._ "I want you to associate yourself with her."

As expected, it took him a few seconds to get it. "Excuse me?"

"Get close to her, Hotaru, Mikan's friend."

"What-?"

"Getting information on that girl won't be easy. She's the kind to share certain things with those close to her at heart. And the one closest to her is…not here. Dig up as much as you can. But the most authentic information is best obtained through the girl herself."

Ruka was quiet for no more then a quarter of a second. "Just her background?"

Satisfied at his answer, I replied, "Her family and her past."

He gave me a look, the kind that implied he had an idea of my idea. "Natsume. You've always had this thing for getting yourself involved in big things. Try not to overdo it this time." Ruka looked serious.

The smile I gave him afterwards had him leaving to get ready for the meeting in tacit exasperation.

* * *

A/N: Yo my friends. Most likely I have left most of you hanging in discontentment. I haven't uploaded for a millienium and a half. I guess I should apologize. AGAIN. Now that I'm kinda stuck in bed from surgery I guess I can be a little more dedicated. More cool stuffs to come for Ruka's even more complicated life and the true terror of his new charge.


	16. Clearing Things Up: Ruka

This is dedicated to Ruka's POV.

DISCLAIMER: One morning I woke up to find that I never had a chance to own Mikan.

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_Clearing Things Up_

_Born to a loving European father and devoted Japanese mother, I was quite the pampered prince. These parents of mine, unlike almost everyone else's, were still alive and living peacefully in an overlooked castle somewhere in France. Every once in a while, I flew there to visit them and chat up on lost instances of my childhood and the more recent news of my profession. To them, I was their most precious treasure, a miracle, as our kind had a low fertility rate. They were so happy that they gladly chose to ignore a flaw I had from birth, the inability to retain memories until a certain age. _

_Japan was my homeland, yet I held little next to none of any visible features of Japanese origin. Friends were hard to make. This resulted from both my looks and my apparent disability that plagued me throughout my earlier years. I could remember their faces and names and feel a strong familiarity with them, but never what I did. It was easy for me to discover that I had this disability, despite my parents never telling me of it. I would look at textbooks and find that I already knew the material they taught, clues leading me to the inevitable conclusion that I had to have taken various classes before, none of which I could remember. I met people who would greet me with a familiarity that I could feel as well yet never put my finger on how I met them. And among those people were a handful that I would continue to meet after my misplaced years…_

"And this is has to do with Mikan how?"

I blanched at her terribly blunt words. "Patience I see is a virtue that happens to be missing from your repertoire."

"Your boss is on to something about Mikan's location. And I'm guessing I'm involved as well. Otherwise you wouldn't even bother to open your mouth in front of me, let alone telling me your past, which is something that should've been shared during the meeting. I doubt everyone knows about your memory problems."

Years of practice kept my face expressionless as I chose my next words carefully. "That's exactly it. This information couldn't have contributed directly to that girl's situation or history had I related this tale to everyone without explaining for an abnormally long time, which requires patience. And after listening to Natsume's theories and hypotheses on his personal problems regarding Mikan and more general problems like Akiri for two hours and thirteen minutes, patience tends to be wanting. So let me finish."

The girl made a show of tilting her head to one side, a mocking smile on her face. "Of course."

It was 4:34 p.m. Her school was closed today. She would have plenty of time on her hands. That was what I'd thought when I approached her after the meeting. Silence had been her occupation during then. Now being cocky was the game.

"It's time to accept that your friend Mikan is older than she looks."

_Among the things that my parents and I talked about were my best friends. And the friends my parents were to theirs. _

_Natsume was the first person they told me about. They said that I was very close to him… closer than I was to even them. They told me of how they almost never saw me without him by my side, and the other way around, either running through the forests of Japan without fear of the animals that dwelled within or staying inside each other's houses during the harsh winters that never bothered our kind anyways. _

_I remember how our houses were at least seven miles away from one another. That's right, I remember. My memories come back in rushes every now and then. Something always has to trigger the return of these memories however. _

_Natsume's past isn't something everyone wants to think about, let alone re-tell. To get the whole story is something you should do on your own._

_But what is important to know about his past is the part Akiri plays in it and how he broke and then tried to break people that held an important place in his heart. _

_His mother, my parents say, was a wonderful woman. His sister was adorable too they add. However, through Akiri's Wrath, these strands that held the seams of his existence together were cut and burned before his eyes. They didn't say too much about the why other than the shudder that ran through my mother as she held my father's hand tightly. But I already know. Natsume doesn't always keep everything to himself. _

_The worst was yet to come. It was the aftermath, the results that came from the failure at having a happy life. The happiness never lasted long for Natsume. And at that time it seemed that I was the only person left that meant anything to him. His rage at having lost so much in such a brief moment was terrifying even to full grown adults like my mother and father. Then it subsided after many months and then the force of his rage turned inwards. It began to eat away at him from the inside, an effect that traumatic experiences have on many people. Even I couldn't reach him. He was already beginning to drown in his internal tears. _

_Seeing as he's still alive right now, it clearly shows that something pulled him out of the torture he was putting himself through. _

_It was your friend, who is my friend as well. Mikan._

"Don't look at me like that. You must've already seen it or sensed it by now, but your friend isn't normal. And then you see us. Is there a difference?"

SLAP!

I had seen it coming ages ago, through the rising tension in her shoulders, but something made me allow her this action.

"She'll never be as monstrous as the people I saw back there. You say that you are of the same species, the same kind, but that doesn't matter. It's what lies in the mind that makes someone similar to another. And Mikan was never meant to be…to be…a hunter."

A hunter? Why such a specific word? Was she implying something behind the initial meaning of it? These thoughts flitted briefly through my mind. But they were gone as quickly as they'd come. Unconsciously, my eyes narrowed a second after her slap. I had felt almost nothing. It was as if she'd merely placed her hand on it for half a second. "No… I didn't mean it that way. She's definitely not that kind of individual. Even when she wasn't so human, she's always had the same personality that has pulled so many of us in."

"Well…sorry about…" She mumbled almost reluctantly.

"Excuse me?" Was this girl _apologizing_ to me?

"I don't regret slapping you, but I interrupted your story. It's hard getting a firm grasp on things like this where the truth exceeds the logic a person usually has. _However_… my mind isn't all that similar to others when it comes to the process of thinking. Making things like a baka gun has you thinking outside the box. If anything, I should be welcoming the revelation that predators of human blood who have human-like features actually exist among us today."

She really was something else, this girl, regardless of her slight sarcasm. "It's a lot to take in, but you're doing well so far. Are you sure this is the first time you've _ever_ had to wrap your mind around this knowledge?" This question was a gamble I couldn't help but make.

"No. But keep talking. I want to know how in the world Mikan Sakura met two old men like you. Don't comment. If we were to say all this was actually true about her, I know what that would make Mikan."

Silently, I took her arm and pulled her with me into Agano's office, the woman wouldn't be coming back for a while anyways. And from there I continued, again, the tale of which I had been earlier so desperate to press on to her. And still was. For this was the only way I thought could best gain her trust. I kept her answer to my question at the back of my mind. I would ask her later about it. Right now, her trust of me was the most important.

_She was never completely one of us. _

_No. She held more human traits than any one of us could ever hope to have. As Natsume explained during the meeting, our ancestry also contained human traits. But they gradually diminished over the course of centuries. _

_We all need to understand, even after so many years of being branded with that name, the term vampire isn't correct. Our true origins are about as clear as a human's. Where does religion come from after all? Isn't it so people have a way of explaining how they came to be and what cruel twist of fate brought them to be such transgressors? How can we be considered a separate species when the hunter and prey can afford to reproduce? _

_Mikan. She is the living proof. What does "us" and "we" stand for now? Perhaps we are the products of a human gene mutation and no one noticed enough to stamp it out before it created the human's future predator. And yet, we still bleed the same color. Look at me. I have lungs. I have a face, a nose, and a mouth. I have a heart that still beats. Don't believe me? _

_You feel it there can't you? It's keeping time with yours. However, I can hear the rhythm of your heart as if I had it right next to my ear. _

_All the proof we needed was right here inside ourselves, yet we _refused_ to think of the possibility that maybe we weren't all dead yet. _

_I know. We can live much longer than you. And our rapid regeneration and immense strength exceeds anything that humans will ever be. But we also have the ability to die. _

_Mikan belongs to us as much as she belongs to you. Her mother was a human made famous in whatever community we managed to build up for ourselves. What surprised us most, however, was that her husband never touched a hair on her head. And when she was announced pregnant, he stayed by her side. Through this union between a human and someone who can't be called one, Mikan Sakura was born._

_Did you think everyone could accept this so easily? There had never been someone like this child in our history. You see? The friend you thought you knew has such an extensive past, filled with things that would break a normal soul. _

_They were avoided by society. Both societies. Although there were a few individuals that could accept such a bond, most were against it. And the birth of their conceived child didn't help matters. They became hunted. By us. And the Hunters. _

_Shortly after that, Mikan's father was killed. Whether it was by the hands of a human or by his own kind, no one knew. Only her mother remained. And it was rumored that she had already been _turned_ by then. _

_I could venture a guess as to who helped her with that. It wouldn't hurt to mention that Mikan's mother happened to be a very close friend of Natsume's mother. How they met? Even Natsume isn't clear on that. _

_And yet somehow, she knew where we had been living. Mikan was no more than an infant when she was brought to us, an old woman holding her tight to her chest. The old woman's identity remained unknown, simply asked us to call her Obaasan, grandmother. She told us as much as she thought we should know. _

_"Her name is Mikan." Is what she said when Natsume asked her quietly. Natsume! Do you know how surprised we all were when someone who hadn't spoken for months suddenly asked for the name of such a small, fragile looking baby? Perhaps at the time, the connection that that child held to her mother, who in turn held a connection to his own mother, was what brought his voice back. _

_Mikan grew up to be a beautiful girl. She was healthy, had a good appetite, and mostly human. We knew of her mixed lineage yet we never spoke a word of it even amongst ourselves. _

_Our kind has always had an aversion towards neighbors so there wasn't anyone to disturb Mikan's happier and earlier years. Her grandmother and her moved out to live in a small cabin Father had been dedicated to constructing. My mother was sad to see them leave our home. And I felt that perhaps the day they'd moved away was the day things began going downhill. _

_Natsume and I took the place of the brothers she never had. Everyday we found something interesting to do together. Seasons passed so quickly while she was still in our lives. It was almost what some people may call a paradise, another form of heaven. And then Natsume made a mistake. _

_He fell in love with his own little sister. _

_At first it was almost unnoticeable. He was simply a young male creature that was gradually recovering from a tragedy. And then it was like something had opened his eyes. It started the day Mikan almost drowned one winter. _

_The incident left something changed in both of them. It wasn't long before Mikan fell in love as well. And Natsume tore a little inside because he'd thought it wasn't him. _

_This misunderstanding was enough to begin building the wall that separated them enough for something unwanted to slip in. Or some_one_ for that matter. _

_Natsume made another mistake that cost him another part of his fragmented heart. _

"There's really no point in re-telling that particular memory however. All involved are still alive today, although whether they'll continue to stay that way, I'm not sure anymore." This girl couldn't see it, but I shook inside. How long had I kept this to myself? I was no longer just trying to get to know this girl, Hotaru. I was finally trying to let go of the past.

I realized now the need that I'd had to relate this information to someone, anyone. But the person I'd finally ended up telling it to was…someone like me. Maybe I saw something similar to myself in her stoic gaze that turned cold from time to time.

"So Akiri was the mistake made multiple times? He tried to kill Mikan and failed right?"

"That's right. And we all thought she really had died that day. Or at least part of her that we loved."

"We?"

"I…" I what? What _did _I love? "I loved her as both a brother and as a friend of Natsume. I think I loved her _because_ she was Natsume's. The link I had with him was just too strong to break even then."

"Do you still love her?"

The question took me back, especially to hear it coming from this girl's mouth, but I recovered quickly. "Yes." And here I caught the most vague twitch of a muscle in her hand. This girl was a formidable masker of her emotions. "But not I'm not _in_ love. Seeing her happy really does make me happy and that's not an excuse or lie. And right now, happiness is irrelevant to wherever Mikan may be."

"And I suppose your shachou needs me in order for whatever plans he has to work?"

_Smart girl._ Except it was people like her that got themselves into trouble the most. "Maybe I'm getting bad at keeping things a secret these days."

"Looks like it."

_Such an obnoxious girl._ But it horrified me to find that such an aspect in this person actually appealed to me. Was I losing my taste in women as well?

"What do you want from me? Don't take me the wrong way. I'm willing to do anything to get Mikan back. She's my _friend_," She said the word with a sharp light in her eyes. "But I'd like to know exactly what I'm supposed do for this to happen."

How her fervent loyalty to Mikan resembled my own to Natsume! I looked through her gaze and saw...myself reflected in her uniquely violet irises. She was nothing and yet everything of all that I dreamed and hallucinated about, someone else like me. Since when had I first begun wishing that there was someone out there whose existence was also becoming heavily dependent on the will of just one person in the world? I thought age had brought me to my senses, that there were always people like that in this world. But I had never gotten close to even one of them. Now I was talking to one! Someone like me! I was even telling them of a past I only just remembered!

The surge of thoughts roared unbidden past my mind. And my horrification at the appeal in which I found in this girl was replaced by a terrifying realization as I felt a surprisingly unfamiliar sensation deep in my chest.

My heart skipped a beat like some inexperienced and frustrated little boy.

Never. Not even throughout the centuries in which I had existed, had my ageless body ever experienced such a feeling.

A/N:

Omg. Ruka is getting riled up! It's called _Clearing Things Up_ because I'm damn finally trying to clear things up a bit before all you people who are infuriated at my slow attempts at updating shun me to death.


	17. Getting Out of Here: Mikan

This is dedicated to Mikan's POV.

Getting Out of Here

There had been times in my life when I felt reality was pressing down on me from all sides, burdening me with thoughts saying that nothing much would happen while I still lived. Was I dead now? Because waking up to be greeted by the bars of a rusted animal cage was something to think about.

I sat up quickly, but then fell back. My head was assaulted by immediate dizziness. A pungent stench registered. What had they been keeping in here before me? The possibilities weren't entertaining.

"Hey."

I tensed up at what I believed was a girl's voice, but then noticed its timid tone. I relaxed only slightly. "Hey." I couldn't help but reply. It was, after all, still second nature.

"Are you alright?"

Did I _look_ all right? "Yes. I'm fine," I paused for a few seconds, waiting for a response. "Who are you?" Her voice sounded young. Was she my age? Was she kidnapped too?

There were some moments before she finally spoke up again. "You…ask me who I am?"

Her question confused me. "Yes, of course. I like to get to know the people I talk to," By now I was sitting up in my convenient little cage with my legs crossed. The dizziness didn't return. "What's your name?" As I waited for her answer, I looked all around me to see if I could discern where I could be. It wasn't surprising to see that the place was built like a warehouse. But its contents were questioning, including the fact that it contained a cage with a potentially dangerous person inside it.

"Nobara…Nobara Ibaragi."

"Nice to meet you, Nobara. I'm Mikan. What are you doing here? Did they get you too?" I couldn't see the owner of the voice anywhere so there was no point of continuing to stare at the wooden crates piled all around me.

"You could say that," The girl said quietly. "Although I'm detained in a different way than you."

"Are you in an even bigger cage?"

Even her laugh was quiet. "No," she replied. "I'm in a warehouse with a girl named Mikan who is stuck in a cage."

It was my turn to laugh. "Wah! That's not fair! Do you think you could get me out of here?"

The girl suddenly stopped talking and I knew something was wrong.

"…Hey. What's-"

"Brat! Didn't we tell you not to go talking to her? Look. She almost got you to do what she wanted. Do you want your master angry?"

I recognized this voice. He'd been there amongst the people that had attacked Hotaru and I! Hotaru…I was suddenly angrier than I ever remembered myself to be.

"What did you do to Hotaru, you monster!?" I was sitting up straight as a rod, my head barely grazing the roof of the cage. I still couldn't see anyone, but my gut told me they were probably directly above me, supported by wooden crates.

"Don't worry. She served her purpose well as a complimentary messenger."

I almost let out a breath. Hotaru could take pain, I just wasn't sure if I could take her death. No…if the worst had really come to pass, I'd have felt it. Messengers were usually kept alive, unless their bodies were the message itself. I tried not to think of the possibility that that _could've_ been their message, but failed anyway.

"What do you want with me then? You went through all this trouble to get me. Am I being used as bait?"

"And here I thought you didn't have a single brain cell to call your own in that head of yours. Yes. That's part of it."

"Please. Let her go. She was innocent." Nobara pleaded.

I couldn't help but notice how she spoke of my innocence in past tense. And here I wondered if Hotaru's lessons in grammar had really been such a benefit.

"You of all should know better," the man spoke in a scolding tone, like he was telling off a small child. "I know you know about our casualties. And I'm sure you've already figured out how-"

"Stop it!" The words escaped my mouth before I could reign in the terror and disgust I felt for myself, at the memories, at how I had acted like such an _animal_. Somewhere deep inside, I knew that I would never be forgiven for this. I would be condemned. But who were the others I was to be condemned with? Were there others? Thinking of condemnation, whatever that word _really_ meant, the face of my shachou suddenly came to mind. Why him? But something else inside me knew, this man, Natsume, had much more to do with that word than anyone else. Why was it that I seemed to know the answer to just about every question I asked myself? What made me know?

"Weak. That's what you are. You're a pathetic, little-"

"Now, that's quite enough, Mark. I don't want you discouraging either of my two little darlings."

The voice sent a chill running up and down my spine. You could be the biggest idiot in the world and still tell that this man had power. A pair of legs suddenly dropped down in front of the side of the cage I was facing. They donned some rather expensive looking pants that were a distinct shade of purple. And then they wrinkled, indicating that their owner was squatting down to match me eye to eye. It was here I found that I couldn't even see his eyes. This man wore a mask, a creamy white one that made him a very peculiar sight. But even more conspicuous was the dark lipstick he wore, the powdered sheen of his cheeks, and the rather wild hair that stuck out in a chaotically controlled manner. All in all, he was the freakiest man I had ever seen.

"And how are _you_ doing, my dear? Oh, you look rather down. Are you missing your friends already? Don't worry, you'll be seeing all of them soon enough."

"Let me out," I was starting to dislike his voice. It contained that smugness that faked innocence of mind, like he had no idea what was going on. Surely, these were all signs of a madman. "You are the worst kind of person."

Even though this man wore a mask, it wasn't too hard to tell when he was displeased with something. Almost immediately, the corners of his mouth turned down and it was like he was a completely different person. He straightened up.

"Do as she says, Mark. Let her out." His voice was so cold I nearly recoiled. He jumped out of sight with a speed I hadn't expected from a man wearing overpriced slacks. His words were followed by a faint grumble and then there was a thump as Mark landed behind me. A lock clicked.

I threw myself against the unlocked cage door, sending Mark flying back into a haphazardly placed pile of crates. There was a huge crash as the crates all fell on top of him. I was both amazed and intimidated by my newfound strength. In the back of my head, I almost felt a little sorry for Mark seeing as I didn't mean to do that…almost.

"Mikan!"

The shout brought my attentions behind me, only to be greeted by a hand reaching for my face. Although everything was happening so incredibly fast, I realized that the hand belonged to the man with the mask, that he was trying to grab me by the throat, and that he was being _really_ slow in doing it. I stepped to one side and my own hand shot out to catch his. And then I reared up my leg to kick his shin as hard as I could, only to be tripped flat out on to the ground by the same man that had been so slow earlier. My arm was twisted around my back and I hissed at the pain. I felt his other hand pin my head firmly down.

_Darn it. There goes my chance at escape. _

"Your power must be controlled. Have you no training, girl? Did Natsume really tell you nothing?" The man whispered close to my ear.

"What?" _Of course the shachou never_ _told me anything! He knows something, but I bet he wouldn't be the type to tell me unless I forced it out of him!_

"You're no beginner. You've simply forgotten. Everything."

I was suddenly relieved of all pressure. I scrambled up, not very elegantly. "Exactly what have I forgotten? What…what am I?" All my life, I had simply been Mikan, an average girl living Japan. Now I was…a monster to say the least, perhaps a distant relative of a bloodthirsty clan of human-like beings? What was the corny name they had for that...vampire. I disliked the sound of that. But if I really were one, how could I still have a heartbeat? How was it possible?

"You are human, but an incomplete one. And the other part of you is coming back." Here the masked man's mouth twisted into a wry smile. "It's all very intriguing to me."

I suddenly remembered the sensation of the voice in my head, that other conscience besides my own. Was that really who I was? It had felt so foreign a thing to actually belong to me. It had tried to take over, not fill in a space that had been previously empty, like it hated to share. Hate. That was a rather strong word in my vocabulary. Hate always took off a bit off your soul. "So you think this is some show for you to watch?" I demanded an answer from him. I had just recently killed a man and this person found it 'intriguing'? It struck me to my very core.

The masked man suddenly made a gesture with his hand. I realized only too late. I felt a needle pierce the skin at the base of my neck before I was in total darkness.

Oo

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.

.

Four days.

For the first time in her fourteen years of life, Hotaru Imai had received an A-. On a Science test.

Searching for Mikan had taken a bigger toll on her than she'd originally estimated. Now finding her best friend was more vital than ever because the A- on that piece of paper refused to stop glaring at her!

After a second episode with the despicable grade, Hotaru had had enough. Ruka had been right. Her silence _could _be broken. Now she found herself riding her automatic Duck Scooter version 2.6, complete with matching fortified helmet, elbow, and kneepads, to the looming building of Alice Corp. She would tell him everything. She had to. If only she hadn't been so prideful. But telling someone the very secret one had harbored for years wasn't easy. It had taken her a full 96 hours to bring herself to even think about it.

"What?" Demanded the irritable lady at the front desk. Hotaru memorized her nametag. Agano. The English word guano came to mind and her lip twitched ever so slightly.

"I need to meet with…" Hotaru realized that Ruka never told her his last name, as using someone's first name meant the relationship was closer than just classmates or business partners. But right now she didn't give. "Ruka-san."

Agano raised an eyebrow. For the first time that she could remember, she hesitated. "And you would be…?"

"Imai Hotaru."

"One moment please." Agano pressed a phone to her ear. There were a few moments pause as she dialed in three numbers. 631. Hotaru quickly memorized them. "Imai-san is here to see you." Agano hung up swiftly. She glanced up at the quiet, but intelligent looking girl before her. "He's waiting in his office. 6th floor."

Anticipation welled up in Hotaru's stomach and she wondered if the man on the 6th floor waited with the same expectancy.

Oo

.

.

.

Ruka's anticipation stretched in two directions. As he paced his office, thoughts were blurring through his mind. He knew he had won. He knew what the girl was here for. Why else would she come? And yet his anticipation wasn't satisfied enough to end there. Its reason was no longer simply excitement at being so close to acquiring information from the girl, but at the thought of her simply _being_ there. She hadn't even seen him for four days. But he'd seen _her_ more than enough for his tastes. He wouldn't call it spying necessarily, simply coincidental meetings where she never saw him. But, as Natsume would've put it, what the hell was wrong with him? The day the girl could knock him flat would be the day he ever admitted that-

His office door opened while his back had been facing it and someone ran into him. He only knew too well who it might've been.

Hotaru knocked on Ruka's supposed office door. When there was no answer, she tried the lock, only to find that it was jammed. Refusing to give up she threw her weight against the door, only to realize that it was not as stuck as she had first thought.

Minding his own business, Narumi was on his way to the restroom when he heard what sounded like a thud and then a grunt issuing from Ruka's office. Narumi smiled to himself as he continued walking. Kids these days.

"Sorry." Hotaru said evenly as she found her fall broken by a face-planted blonde.

Ruka grumbled something into the carpet.

"Yes? What is it-ah!" She was on her back in a heartbeat. And here she saw how frail humans were, that they wouldn't even last one second in this man's world. She was painfully reminded of a similar situation where she had received a none-too-gentle blow to the head.

"You have an irresistible scent. Did anyone ever tell you that?"

Hotaru gazed into the blood-red eyes that she swore had been originally sky blue. Even a fool would know how much danger she was in right now. Her voice was stubborn when she spoke. "No." Her arms had been pinned down on either side of her, leaving vital parts of her body wide open for the taking. Even Hotaru sometimes found it amazing that she hadn't trembled and broken down at the face of imminent death.

Now, what did she currently have on hand?

This unremarkable girl, this plain, fashion-disaster of a female, was giving him enough surprises to rival Mikan. What was she to him besides being essential in finding the one person who could make Natsume happy? Was this terrible, overwhelming hunger what Natsume continued to feel for Mikan even after all these years? The instinct of biting this girl before him had assaulted him the second her skin made contact with his. Words influenced by Wrath spilled from his mouth, "You have an irresistible scent." It filled his nostrils and clouded his mind, then left him feeling so…empty. "Did anyone ever tell you that?"

"No." Although his question wasn't meant to be answered, her reply filled him with an incomprehensible relief.

Stop. He had to stop, pull himself away before he made a bigger mess than he could clean. He looked into those fear-tinged eyes that any of his kind could recognize, the eyes they usually saw in their prey before their throats were torn out. Had he not seen that look, he would've eaten her without hesitation.

"You baka." The words hit him about as hard as the rapidly flying projectile that suddenly hit him where it hurt.

Hotaru watched with not a single shred of pity as Ruka groaned in agony and rolled around on the floor. The test run of the Pocket Baka 1001 was a success. No human male could resist its punch. She smirked. And yet it had worked rather efficiently on Ruka as well.

Ruka fell silent. Then he said with a guilt-ridden voice, "Can you forgive me for what I've done? We can be such monsters. I won't stop you if you wish to leave."

"I'm no longer sure exactly what you are anymore. But you are definitely a close relative of the human. You have our body structure, but with enhanced speed, strength, regeneration, and a prolonged life span. Add in the diet of blood, whether it is human or animal, and you get what people would call a 'vampire'. _But_, every single one of you still has a heartbeat. That places you out of the vampire category and back into the supernatural category. You can call yourself a monster, but aren't some humans also called monsters as well? When provided with power, it's how you control it, what you do with it, that will decide whether you are a killer or not." Hotaru held her hand out, offering it to a shocked Ruka. "I'll tell you my past, my story. And you _better_ put it to good use."

A/N:

Yeah. That's right. I'm ending it right here. Hotaru's story needs to be told in her perspective. And so, the next chapter will be dedicated to Hotaru Imai. Ahahahah. Mikan's unconscious in a warehouse somewhere. Man, I'm evil. Okay. Don't worry. She'll be outta there soon :p


	18. Transferring Data: Hotaru

DISCLAIMER: Gakuen Alice I own not.

This is dedicated to Hotaru's POV.

* * *

Transferring Data

_I've actually …wanted to tell someone about this for a while…_

_ I don't know how to start. My story began before I was born. _

_ My brother. He used to have my mother's eyes. _

_ I never met him. Not in person, but I saw the pictures in our albums. We hardly ever heard from him and sometimes I wondered if he truly existed, despite the evidence. I was four when I found out about him. _

_ When I was five, I began asking my parents questions. What was his name? When was his birthday? How old was he when he left? Why did he leave? _

_ Their replies could only mean one thing. He had been taken away. And I hadn't been because I didn't have what they wanted. _

_ His name was Subaru Imai. His birthday was April 22. He was only five when they took him. _

_ Who were "they"? _

_ When I grew old enough to fully encompass an intelligent thought, the age of six, I began my search on the Internet. I questioned our neighbors and visited the local police station. I was caught by a near desperation to find this brother of mine whom I had never met. _

_ My parents eventually noticed my fervent research and I was told to "take a break". My break lasted for four years. When I turned ten, I learned how to hack. _

_ Police records showed nothing. There was no mention of any kidnapping, which either meant my parents had been threatened to stay quiet or someone paid the police to erase the case from their files. With the latter theory in mind, I pulled out all erased files. Even if something on a computer was deleted, the computer always carried traces of the memory in its database. Again, there was nothing. This was where I realized that if I wanted to go anywhere with this, I had to make a more thorough interrogation of my own parents. _

_ This time I garnered valuable information. My brother was never taken. He had gone to boarding school. And then left for no apparent reason, his dorm room discovered completely empty one morning, exactly three years after he came to the school. Originally, I was supposed to go join my brother at his school once I was old enough, but after my parent's only son left them, they made sure I wouldn't follow in his footsteps. And so, I went to Mikan's school instead. _

_ The school he went to was called Usagi Academy. Do I look like I'm joking? I paid a visit by bus to the place and managed to gain access to the school records. Stop looking so expectant. As if I'd tell you how. _

_ His school struck me as strange. It had electrified gates, which meant people were kept out _and_ in. Then once I got a hold of his school records, I saw that Subject A was written beneath his name with even larger letters, M.I.A, stamped across it. This meant that he'd continued some form of contact with the school until a certain time, as the record was dated several years before, four days before his fifteenth birthday. I could only conclude that the school had lied about his disappearance all those years ago and then kept him somewhere for their own interests, for what I never found out, but only to have it backfire on them, since it appeared he'd escaped. _

_ As to where he'd gone, I had only a small lead. The AAO. Little did I know that those three letters typed on to that page was all I needed. _

_ Nearly five years later, a group of supernatural beings break into the building of an organization called the AAO. _

_ I'm afraid I don't have information on my brother's weaknesses like Natsume expects. Don't look so surprised. The second I found out about the name of the organization, I knew…my brother was in there somewhere. He had to be. _

"You seem to be realizing something. What is it?"

"Perhaps…" Ruka began. "Natsume saw him and eventually figured out the blood relations you may have with him. That's why he…"

"Asked to find out more about me?" I finished for him. "You've managed to do that for him in under a week. I'm impressed." Sarcasm was beginning to creep up in my voice. My patience was nearing its end. Mikan's rescue was taking much too long to execute and even if she wasn't dead, there were many ways to destroy a person besides death. "Now why don't you do something useful and go tell him what you've learned, like the obedient little puppy you are." I'd gone too far. Again. And forgot who exactly I had been talking to. I drew in a sharp breath and braced myself for the next possible attack. But, strangely, it never came.  
"You're right," Ruka turned around as if suddenly nonchalant about everything I'd just said. "I'm like a small puppy always on the run for its master. Doesn't that simply disgust you? I'd Realized my powers early for those like me, yet I remain Natsume's right hand man. Or at least his royal dog."

His voiced held no inflection that exhibited any dangerous emotions, yet I could still feel the buried anguish he felt inside, like it had melded into mine. The underlying sense of it in the air surprised me.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

"What do you mean?" He didn't react to the question, but I held him suspiciously anyways.

"You know what I'm talking about. How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"I can feel what you say. It's like…"

"I'm a part of you?" He finished unexpectedly and for the second time in my life, my cheeks flushed. "Don't worry," he laughed. "I'm not as bad as Narumi. If you hang around him long enough…well, I wouldn't go too close to him if I were you."

"Or to any of your kind." I added.

"Yes. It's not good to deal with our kind." Ruka's face darkened. "I know you want to see your brother very much, but I'm not sure if it's beneficial that you attempt that today. You've never truly met him. So how can you be so sure that he's even still human?"

Those words irritated me highly. "Even if he were turned into one of you like those myths that are so popular today, he's still my family. And I refuse to spend my entire life never meeting someone directly related to me by blood."

"There are some people in this world who you should never meet. And sometimes, that can end up being your blood relatives as well, like in Natsume's case. The last relative he saw is now dead. He killed him. Now tell me. Do you still want to meet him?"

I was silent, letting his words sink in and spread all around me. This question had been obvious to me from the start. What if after meeting him, it ended up being a choice between his life and mine? More than 20% of my life had been used in the effort to one day meet this Subaru Imai, who was supposedly my blood brother. And yet, despite all these efforts, had Subaru ever thought of his family even once? Did he even know he had a younger sister? My mind had been becoming less and less sure of this fact as each year passed. And now it was about to be unraveled by this supernatural being who was too human for his own good. "I…" Something changed a little, somewhere in my chest, not my head. I felt a little strange, as if I was just a small five-year old once more. "I don't know any more." And the dam broke. For the first time in my life, I cried in front of another person.

"Mr. Hyuuga, what is the meaning of this!" exclaimed a frustrated, balding, and overweight businessman. Natsume did not have a high opinion of him, as he possessed certain erased files on this particular man. And he wasn't about to let him get off easy for his blatant corruption of power.

"If I were you, Mr. Shin, I would first learn how to delete files properly before dabbling in things that are below the law," He placed the files on to the desk separating him and the now flustered man. "I cannot have such morally corrupt people working under me."

Mr. Shin stood up in outrage and perhaps a little fear. "No, I think you have something wrong here, Mr. Hyuuga. It is _you_ who is corrupted." These words emboldened him and he continued. "You fire at least one employee every few months under these same charges. Perhaps you are trying to…take out the competition for lack of better words." The man slowly sat back down, though the couch he had occupied sank considerably once more.

"I'm afraid you couldn't be further from the truth. I have always faced my competitors as fairly as I deemed possible. But even with the evidence directly in front of you, Mr. Shin, you continue to stay on your sinking ship. If you quietly accept your discharge, I will ensure that these files do not get in the hands of the authorities."

Mr. Shin lost all color in his face, as he began shaking with anger. But he was not a man without pride. "I accept your terms."

"Good. Now that this meeting is finished, report to Ms. Misaki and pick up the papers for your discharge."

As soon as the door was slammed shut, Natsume leaned back and sighed, disappointed once more of the truth in Mr. Shin's words. Too many employees were being fired these days, and for reasons of less severity than this recent one.

"Mikan." The name escaped his lips before he could reign in the frustration he had pent up inside him. The girl, Hotaru, had entered the building at exactly 2:50 p.m. And now it had turned 4:00 some twenty-three seconds ago. Really. What was he to gain from asking the girl about that Usui? She probably didn't know much anyways. But surely she had _something_ to say. One only had to look to know that she was skilled in things mechanical and scientific. And those were skills that could easily apply to hacking.

"Mr. Hyuuga." Called Jinno's voice and Natsume looked up to see the strict and organized man before him.

"Yes? Is there another meeting scheduled soon?"

"No. No more for today, though there is one tomorrow. However, strangely, I was sent by Narumi to tell you something, though I find it more his job than mine."

"What is it?"

"Information you won't like."

"We'll see."

"Very well. Narumi was looking through your e-mails. Don't ask me how he got your password. And he discovered one sent by an unknown source saying that Mikan will be the subject to a number of experiments. She is labeled as an interesting specimen and further research will be done to reveal exactly what she is, as she appears to have a taste for human blood, despite being quite human herself. And… Natsume I refuse to continue if you don't get a better hold of yourself."

His fingers had been gripping the arm of his seat so tightly that the wood had cracked; despite his best at restraining himself from charging all the way back to the AAO and torturing that Usui until he screamed the truth. His habit of easily losing his temper was getting unhealthy for him. "What else…did the bastard say?"

"And that the one with the mask is behind it all."

"Behind the mask," Natsume smirked. "You mean like that phantom from the popular opera in New York City? I remember little of that play, though I believe the two are never together in the end. Does that make me the enemy, the man who wrenches those two apart?"

"Natsume. Don't over-think things. Perhaps you fit the role of the phantom better than a man behind a mask. You hide your emotions well from many, though I would practice trying not to break furniture every time you are incited." Jinno took off his glasses and wiped them with the material of his shirt.

This gesture strangely calmed Natsume ever so slightly and he found himself leaning back once more into his seat. "I'll work on it."

"I believe the girl Hotaru may give us a few leads, no matter how small," Jinno finished cleaning his glasses and placed them back on. "Ruka should be done talking with her by now. He should have the information, though I suggest waiting a little longer before you ask him for them."

"Why?"

"We shall say that both of them are a little busy at the moment."

* * *

A/N:

Yo guys. I'm back again. The name is Usagi Academy because I didn't want Alice Corps to end up being destroyed into millions of pieces by Hotaru XD

I hope you enjoyed this feature presentation.


	19. Catching a Spider: Natsume

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOT THE GAKUEN ALICE.

This is dedicated to Natsume's POV.

* * *

**Catching a Spider**

I ignored the redness creeping up Ruka's neck as he relayed to me all that he'd heard from Hotaru.

"And what I've deduced from it all is that Usui is probably an alias. I'm sure you remember his face well. And there is a likely chance of him double-dealing or at least working under someone other than Akiri."

"He may look like a double dealer, but his record from Usagi Academy shows that he's had ties with the AAO from a young age," I interjected. "Though I now know for a fact that Akiri has had no knowledge of Mikan's kidnapping. But suspicions will remain suspicions until proven."

Ruka's eyes took on a determined light as I said this. "Then I suppose a tour of Usagi Academy is in order? The school is not an unknown one. It is in fact quite celebrated by its nearby districts. However," His tone changed. "Your face is too well known in the business world. There is a low chance that you'll be able to walk through their gates without arousing the suspicion of not only the school's, but Usui as well. That is, if he is who we think him to be."

"There are no doubts in my mind for the latter. And," I nodded slightly with reluctance. "You're right about that. It wouldn't do to attract so much attention. And this is where Hotaru will come into play."

From Ruka's expression, he had seemed prepared for this decision. In fact, he seemed almost expectant. "You plan for her to visit the academy with an interest in attending it, am I right? Hotaru told me that this was what she wished. And I suppose you would've gone right ahead and agreed with it had I mentioned it before you did."

I suddenly caught another emotion flash once through his eyes before he wiped it away. It was a silent disquiet that would only grow to become a kind of inner torment that had the potential to haunt him for the rest of his immortal life. And in that brief moment of potential weakness, I saw myself for the first time reflected through that look. I could see my own self clearly, as if a mirror had been placed right before me. A sharp pain struck me somewhere near my heart as I remembered my own disquiet. It was a disquiet that had already festered and grown to become a hell that lived solely to destroy the still beating organ within my body. And once the day came that it finally stopped, I would lose my humanity and anything that ever had to do with Mikan Sakura, the one and only girl that I could ever and have ever…

"Natsume!" His voice woke me from my reverie.

"Ruka. How much do you care for that girl?"

The redness was now threatening to reach his face. "I…" And here he smiled. "I remember asking you the exact same question when we'd first met Mikan."

I paused, thinking back to times that were old, yet hard to forget. I felt a smile playing on the corners of my lips as I thought of how my temper had never improved even after several centuries. I chuckled and Ruka looked at me with a questioningly look. "You never answered my question, Ruka. How much do you care for Hotaru Imai that you would allow her to sit in your office by herself?"

The blush that Ruka had been successful so far in restraining broke through his resistance and spread throughout his face. If there ever were a room so sacred in a building, it would be Ruka's own personal office. Visitors had to be chaperoned by the owner.

I spared Ruka an answer. "So you have no protest against this plan?"

"I can't bring myself to do so. Not when she wishes it herself."

"Ruka. Hotaru was long involved in this even before we were. Take care to remember that. And now I need to tell you another thing that's come up." My heart lurched and I nearly considered telling him later, but decided not to. "It's concerning Mikan's situation."

Oo

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Four days. Mikan remembered that four was an unlucky number in her book. She prayed that nine didn't come around soon.

Other than her rude awakening in a dirty, old warehouse, she was perfectly fine. She noticed how any bruises she may have sustained from that time had faded less than a day later. Luckily, the man in the mask hadn't gone ahead and broken any of her bones, though she wasn't sure if things were going to stay that way. "Hey Nobara. What're you doing?" She couldn't help but ask as she saw the other girl sitting in front of a small, squat table where she'd previously spied a bottle of pills. It was placed inconspicuously in the corner of the small holding cell both of them currently shared. The only way out was a single door with a small window that she'd peeked through several times now. There was actually a well-lit and shiny hallway outside and Mikan wondered what kind of place this was. Despite the hopelessness of the situation, Mikan was secretly glad, even in her dull confinement space, that she at least now had Nobara as a roommate. This gladness eventually led to a thought and she realized that Nobara hadn't mentioned anything about herself, while Mikan had wasted no time in updating the shy, quiet girl on her situation.

"It's something I use to control my body temperature." Nobara replied softly.

Intrigued, she inched over silently to the other girl until she was sitting right besides her. At the same time, she got a closer look at this gentle and soft-spoken girl as well. Her hair was graced with the most riveting curls, though her eyes sometimes tended to look a bit unhappy. They were a dull shade of green, but Mikan had the feeling that they could sparkle when they wanted to. And then she impulsively bunched the other girl up in a curious hug. The action caused the girl to flinch from the bodily contact. "Oh! You feel so cold! Why's that? Here. I'll help you warm up." And, to Nobara's surprise, her body did indeed feel a little less cold. Was it a new quick reacting pill that they gave her, or the hug? Or was it the sudden unfamiliar cozy feeling in her heart?

"Oh," she breathed at the feeling of such warmth. "I do feel better. Thank you."

"That's good." At Nobara's words, Mikan had felt a little calmer inside and any thoughts of the number four or nine slipped away for the time being.

"Mikan?"

"Yes?"

"I know where we are."

Mikan went still. "You do?"

"Yes. Please don't hate me." Nobara almost whispered the last few words.

Mikan released her, shocked, and said, "I could never hate you. But I'd really like it if you told me where we are right now because I really, _really_ want to know!"

Nobara gave a quiet laugh as she saw how childish her friend could be in mere seconds. And then she paused. Friend? It was a foreign word, but it made her feel good either way. She supposed that having one wouldn't be such a bad thing. "It may be a little hard to believe, Mikan, but we're in a school."

"Wha?" Nobara had to bite her lip to keep from laughing again at Mikan's completely bewildered expression and finally gave in when the girl's jaw dropped and she gaped like a fish.

Oo

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.

This girl…I watched her stoic face as she took in the news of her friend. Ruka relayed the brevity of the situation to her. She nodded once before saying, "When will the application be turned in?"

I blinked.

And the wheels of fate began turning in a different direction.

The paperwork was done in less than a day and Hotaru found that she was being scheduled for an interview about a week from then. There was no need for her to take an exam to be enrolled. Her grades were more than good enough and all she needed now was to conference with a counselor from the school, with Ruka as her guardian. Her parents had taken a while to persuade, but in the end, they had given in to the smooth talking and coaxing of the beautiful exoticness of the businessman Ruka portrayed himself as, close as it was to the truth.

"They may be a stickler for academics, but they also critically analyze the personality of the enroller." Ruka coached. He spoke as he straightened a pile of papers on his desk. Every day, half an hour after her school ended, Hotaru was to report to his office for mock interview sessions, until he was satisfied with her performance. "The standards of Usagi Academy are much higher than Shotoku High. And that leads to my next question. Aren't you and Mikan a little young to be already in your first year of high school? It matches the American system, but…"

"Both of us turn fifteen this year." Hotaru sat ramrod straight on the wooden chair placed before Ruka's desk. He was reminded then to address this.

"Relax your shoulders. No one wants to talk to a girl who looks like she's sitting next to a time bomb." He watched for a few minutes as the stoic girl tried unsuccessfully to lower her shoulders to an agreeable height. Tired of watching her struggle with such a simple procedure, Ruka stood up and walked around his desk to stand behind her. And then he made another one of the bigger mistakes in his life when he placed his hands lightly on her, assuming that perhaps human touch could aid in teaching her to relax.

On contact, he felt an immediate tingle at his fingertips, a most curious feeling.

"Ah…"

Ruka's enhanced hearing easily caught the slight gasp that issued out of Hotaru's mouth, which was enough to tell him that she'd felt it too. "What's wrong?" The question should've been what the heck was wrong with _him_? "I thought you weren't afraid of me."

Who was this person speaking now? Hotaru wasn't so sure anymore as she got up from the chair faster than even Ruka could credit her kind for. "I'm not." She said shortly. "_You're_ the weird one."

"And you're no ordinary girl."

"When did I ever say I was?" Hotaru bit back as her eyes flashed.

"From what I've seen and…felt from your devices, your ability to _invent_ is greater than even those of my kind." Ruka looked at her in a way that made Hotaru feel like throwing something at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Perhaps that's what they were looking for, except at the time, your ability hadn't truly surfaced yet."

"What makes you think your kind are so much more efficient at inventing than the average human? Surely you aren't all given enhanced brains as well. A few idiots in your corporation prove my point."

"If you sit back down I'll tell you more about it." Ruka made an overly exaggerated gesture towards the wooden chair that was currently directly in front of him.

"If you get back behind your desk, I'll think about it."

Despite all that had happened to him in his life, in his past, to Mikan and Natsume, Ruka couldn't help but smile at the girl before him. His mind pleaded with him to end these thoughts involving her now before it was too late, but his heart was too busy replying to her words. "Amongst my kind, we call your abilities Realizations…"

The headache refused to go away and I grit my teeth in annoyance. Was I, Natsume Hyuuga, the last of my family, coming down with some terminal illness that could actually affect my own kind? I scoffed lightly to myself. I was simply imagining it.

The office door opened then closed and I pushed down the lid of the new replacement laptop Misaki had painstakingly pre-ordered to get a better view of the visitor, though his particular pattern of footfalls had long given him away.

"Ms. Agano was unsuccessful in tracing the e-mail to its original sender, however she found the sender's general location. The e-mail used our area code." Jinno reported. He seemed pleased with himself at this particular piece of news, for he would enjoy smoking out the perpetrator and doling out a fit punishment.

"And how is the relationship between the AAO and Alice Corp currently standing?"

"They are continuing to pay back their $200,000 loan from us in two month increments, which means their investment in Mercedes is so far successful. You made enemies with them the day you acquired your BMW." Jinno's lip curled in his amusement.

"I was never into Benz."

"Well, I supposed _they_ weren't into Nazis." Narumi stepped into the conversation, holding a manila folder in one hand.

Again, the appearance of another visitor was no surprise, as his approach was heard minutes ago. "It doesn't matter that one of the previous major shareholders was in the Nazi Party. We now own his goods. Besides, the history of the Benz was interesting; their favored product changed over time from airplanes to sedans."

"And now that we're on the topic of the BMW, I am reminded to tell you that there is currently a Cabriolet parked in the lot."

I raised an eyebrow.

"The E350." Narumi paused for effect and was rewarded with an immediate stiffening of the other two occupants in the room.

"Akiri doesn't own a convertible." I muttered. "Has the meeting room been cleaned throroughly?" I directed this question towards Jinno, as I had assigned him with the task of asking Misaki to handle the situation. It was ironic to think that I would be meeting this person in the same room where I had previously killed two of Akiri's bodyguards.

"Yes."

"Tsubasa can bring her there." Narumi proposed.

"Her?"

"Her license plate says S & SWEET. Perhaps that can give you more of an idea…?"

Beep!

Narumi was interrupted. The beep was followed by a notable click as a familiar voice spilled out of the desk phone's speaker. "Mr. Hyuuga, Ms. Amai will be waiting at the front desk to be picked up." And the phone went silent.

It was sweet indeed. For the first time that day I felt a certain satisfaction. "Narumi. You can send Tsubasa down now. But make sure he doesn't let Misaki see her."

"And what will happen, dare I ask, if she does?"

Jinno decided to let himself out of the room right about then.

"She will tear her apart." And the possibility of it happening alleviated my headache ever so slightly.

Oo

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The door was open halfway before she rushed it.

BAM!

Nobara was unsuccessful in catching her friend before she went flying into the squat table. The piece of furniture was broken in two and Nobara eyed it sadly before helping Mikan up.

"So you're the new kid here, eh?" sneered a sharp-eyed boy with a closely shaved head standing in the doorway. He looked close to her age. "You just look like trouble to me." His hands were occupied with a large tray and food enough for two small people. Mikan wondered how in the world he could've pushed her back with such force when he carried the tray so precariously.

"I was _kidnapped_. Is that not good enough for you?" Mikan fumed at him and she swore her face was hot enough with fury to emit steam.

"Mikan!" Nobara called to her friend, worried. "Please lower your voice. The hallways echo and people may be studying."

"Oh yeah." It was unnerving to think that she'd been transferred from a dirty old warehouse to a decent room in a school. "Hey Nobara, I forgot to ask. What's the name of this school?"

"It's a simple one. Usagi Academy, a very well-known boarding school."

"That's a funny name." laughed Mikan, but her laughter was cut abruptly short when the sharp-eyed boy retorted.

"Oi! _I_ go to this school. And I don't do funny."

Mikan wasted no time in arguing back. "What do you mean you don't do funny? You don't even have to be funny when your head's so big it can't even fit through the door!"

"You little-!" He'd placed the tray carefully on to the floor before suddenly pouncing on the shocked girl.

"Stop! Stop!" Nobara cried as she tried to pry the boy off Mikan, while the poor girl continued wrestling around with him. Later, all three found what a comical sight they'd made in their scuffle.

"What in the world is going on here!" yelled a new, deeper voice.

The fighting stopped immediately as the nearly bald boy released Mikan as if shocked by an invisible current. The first few words out of his mouth were, "She started it!"

Mikan fought the urge to stamp on his foot at his immaturity. She could top that! "_He_ broke the table!" Her eyes were trained on the boy, ready for any further action.

"_You're_ the one that fell into it!"

"That's because you pushed me!"

"I didn't even touch you!" But then the boy smirked and Mikan was forcibly reminded of a similar look that often graced her shachou's face. "But then again, I don't need to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Mikan, confused.

"Ahem." The voice coughed irritably and Mikan suddenly remembered that the room had a new occupant.

The man before them looked like any other person she could've met on the street, though his average looks did not hide the authority he held. But then again, he could've just been a janitor.

"My name is Misaki. I'd prefer to be called just that, but school protocol insists that all students call me Misaki-sensei." He crossed his arms, looking a bit more serious now. "I don't know how they found you, but you've been registered as a student at this school. Usually they'd at least visit the family before bringing the child, but I guess things are a bit different now."

At this point, Mikan wasn't sure if Mr. Misaki was still talking directly to her. She sneaked a peek over at Nobara, but only received a customary look of sadness in return.

"Come with me. Your classes begin tomorrow. For now, we need to get your books and introduce you to your new teachers." He made as if to pull Mikan along with him.

She whipped her arm away. "Wait a minute!" Yelled Mikan defiantly. "If things were really so easy, why'd you have to lock our door, huh? This is more of a prison than a school!"

"That's because _some_ new students end up reacting the same way you do!" Bit the sharp-eyed boy, who Mikan had already put on her bum list.

"How about you come with me and I give you a rundown of what's going on?"

Mikan paused, contemplating how bad it _really_ could be.

"Go with him, Mikan. He can probably explain things better than I can." Nobara gave a soft smile. "You'll be fine."

Mikan flashed Nobara her own wavering smile. "Alright. If you say so."

Misaki motioned for her to follow as he headed out the door. "Mochiage. You come too."

"Fine." Huffed the reluctant boy.

As the door clicked shut and she was the only person was left in the room, Nobara gave a sigh and whispered. "Mikan. You really might just hate me after this."

Oo

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"Let go of me," Hissed Honey. "Or I'll make your life a living hell."

"You haven't worked for Mr. Hyuuga yet or you would know what hell is." Agano was looking her usual irritated self as she pinned the struggling woman down with a double arm bar. "I'm used to people with your kind of Realization. You just haven't met people with mine."

"Who…who knew someone could ever have _that _stupid of a Realization?" gasped Honey as Agano tightened her hold.

"Oh…I guess you don't understand. Being deaf isn't my Realization. I was born that way."

Agano smiled to herself she read the incredulity in Honey's mind. Finding out who the woman was and whom she worked for had been effortless to say the least. It was always useful to know that those with voice-oriented Realizations fell prey to her own with more ease than others. There were only few she had trouble reading…like the company's most recent employee. She'd given her such trouble. The experience had been like reading the pages of a book with runny ink.

"Try that and you lose both arms." Agano threatened as Honey had contemplated escape.

"Agano-san, you can let go of her now." Tsubasa knew that he hadn't even needed to speak out loud, but it always amused him to see Agano's eyes glance up at him with understanding before the words even left his mouth.

She released the woman and backed off, knowing that Tsubasa's Realization held Honey in place. Honey. The name was even worse than the woman thinking that her Realization specialized in her being deaf.

"Natsume is satisfied, I suppose?" asked Agano with a certain glint in her eye that Tsubasa didn't miss.

"I suppose." He echoed.

"Then I expect a raise in my next paycheck."

Tsubasa hung his head in exasperation at her typical words. "That's the third raise you're getting this year." He grumbled.

"You better hurry and take her with you." Agano motioned towards the prone woman on the ground. "I can hear Misaki."

"Right." Tsubasa had gone a little pale at the reminder before leaving as quickly as he could with the captive woman still connected to him by shadow. If it weren't for the lecture he would get if Misaki ended up mortally wounding their visitor, he would've taken the time to laugh at the face Agano made behind the sulking woman's back.

The meeting room was dark when I stepped inside, but it really made no difference. If anything, seeing became a little more bearable. "Ruka. Once we're done, this place is turning into a storage room."

"I agree." Said the voice of a girl I had asked Ruka specifically not to allow in.

"And what," I hissed as I turned my head around slowly. "Are you doing here?"

"Natsume, there's something I need to discuss with you. Just now…"

"Later. We have one of Akiri's coming in. She'll be here in half a minute and it's bad enough that _this_ girl's scent is just about everywhere in the room. I know even _you_ find it hard to resist." There was a moment where I felt a kind of satisfaction from those words. Ruka's expression hardened and I knew it to be the truth. _Do you get it now, Ruka? This is how I felt all those years ago and you could never bring yourself to understand it. Now it's your turn. _And yet, sitting somewhere in the back of my mind was a person who didn't want his friend to endure what nearly destroyed _him_.

"Hotaru." Ruka called as he stepped out of the meeting room, his eyes clouded over with a kind of frustration and anger with himself that was familiar to me. I had seen myself in the mirror with similar eyes too many times.

"Take her down the other way." I muttered, though Ruka already knew what I was talking about. There were two fire exits on either side of the building. Those were used more often than the elevators for reasons no human would suspect, which meant Tsubasa would be using it, along with Honey. There was another way, however, it would require a leap of faith.

"What's the other way?" I heard Hotaru ask suspiciously just before the door closed. I chuckled quietly for a moment as I imagined her expression at Ruka's reply.

Tsubasa came a few seconds later than I'd predicted and I had already been lounging on the couch for a while when he opened the door and came in with a flashlight and a familiar, sour-faced woman.

"Sorry about that." He tapped the flashlight against faint, healing scratch-marks on his left cheek, where a small, dark blue star was also visibly tattooed like a beauty mark below his eye. Someone put it there. He never bothered to tell whom, though Misaki probably knew. "I forgot about the windows in the stairwell. Who the hell put those there anyway?"

The urge to roll my eyes was strong, but I kept a passive face as I focused my unspoken words into a look. _You are taking a detailed overview of the building after this is over._

Tsubasa shrugged, knowing resistance to be useless. Honey grimaced even more when she was forced to mimic the movement as well.

"Is this how you treat your guests?" Honey drawled. Her voice was laced with traces of her Realization, though she noticed something was wrong when Tsubasa laughed aloud, something that wouldn't have happened had she actually had control.

"Somatic type Realization, same as Ruka's. Voice pheromone. Agano told me. Don't worry. We gave her a restraining device."

"Hmph!" Honey, having finally noticed that a milky white ring had replaced one of her original ones, turned her nose away in disdain. She knew what it was.

I motioned over towards the couch and Tsubasa sat his captive gracelessly down on to it. I nodded to Tsubasa to release her from his hold. He blinked once and then left the room, closing the door behind him. If this woman had any mind, contrary to her appearance, she wouldn't make any false moves that could end her life before she could even relay whatever message she had. But then again, I really didn't care if it happened either way.

"So. What am I doing here you wonder. Well I'm here to warn you," she smiled smugly, waiting for a response from me. She continued after she received none. "About spiders."

"What do spiders have to do with any of this?" But her meaning was clear…and unspecific at the same time. "But tell me, how many are there?"

"Your company is surprisingly clean for such an ugly place. I hate the blue carpet, by the way. Who ever had such a stupid idea for that shade?"

My eyes took on an angry light at her words. If there were no spies in the corporation, how was this a warning? And I liked that shade of blue.

"My my, impatient aren't we? That temper of yours is well known by most of us. But no, I didn't come here to tell you about your company. I came to tell you about a school, though I suppose you probably found out about it already."

"And your reason for this assumption?"

"That girl. She looks smart, but I have my doubts about that. What human would want to stay with people who use them as food?"

"Our diet is slightly different from yours."

"I suppose imported blood wine is too much for your budget?"

"The excitement is in the hunt."

"I'm sure you know of our little sibling reunion. Usui was very surprised when he saw his little sister sitting in the back seat of your car as your people made their getaway."

"You admit that so freely. What does he know about her?"

"Only that she's searching for him. And he knows where she lives. His family hasn't moved since he left them. What stupid creatures."

"And so we can be too. Now, about that school…"

Honey leaned back into the couch, composed and relaxed, though her eyes were alert. "Coincidental, isn't it, that a girl named Hotaru Imai enrolled in Usagi Academy, an infamous school, in the middle of their school year, shortly after you lost contact with that other one. I heard she was a-ah- my…what…a temper."

I tightened my fingers around her throat. There was a faint pulse, like a human's, easy to break. "It takes half a year to heal a broken neck."

She sneered, but thought better of it when she felt her neck gradually heating up. "Release…me and I'll-ugh…tell you what I know of her whereabouts."

I let her go. Her recovery was silent and she didn't cough or choke, as there was never a need to breathe in the first place. "Well? Where is she? What have they done to her?" It was hard to not to fall to my knees right there, begging the woman that worked under someone who had destroyed nearly all of what ever meant anything to me.

"There are spiders in the school." She spoke in hushed tones now, as if someone were standing nearby. "The nest isn't in Akiri's place, but we have a spider as well and it's well-hidden, so that even Akiri himself can't find it. Some are poisonous, some aren't, but I'd watch out for the little girl who's enrolling into Usagi Academy alongside Ms. Imai. You would know that she's highly susceptible to spider bites, though I hear she didn't even need an interview."

I swallowed hard, my throat dry from an anticipation that had previously occupied it. "Is that all?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Hyuuga, but that is all." Honey gave a false smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have more work to do. My shift doesn't end 'til five." She stood up, hands clasped neatly, though her lady-like behavior was somewhat ruined by her leather boots and lace-up parka.

I didn't even want to begin admitting why I knew what a lace-up parka even was. I was still trying to forget that one incident involving Narumi… "Nice try, but you're too slow." When I finally let go of her wrist, it revealed an angry burn mark.

"Take this thing off," she hissed. She thrust forward her hand with the Realization-suppressant ring. "I refuse to have this disgusting thing on me any longer."

"Talk to the lady at the desk. I'm sure she'll remove it for you if you ask."

"There's something wrong with her, if you ask me." Honey muttered under her breath.

"Get out, before I melt your boots."

"These cost me an eighth of my paycheck! Don't you dare, stupid-aaahhhh!"

I watched her run out of the room billowing smoke from the tips of her hair. Once her screaming stopped and the fire exit opened then closed, I let myself fall back on to the couch, a kind of strange relief spreading all over my body. I thanked whatever was up there, watching us, silently. But such a gift also meant further trials to undertake before I was allowed something my heart had desired for so long. Happiness.

* * *

A/N:

Well, what do you guys think? I'm rewarding you with quite a bit to read aren't I? But I suppose every one of you guys would rather have faster updates.

Haha, too bad. You'll have to cope with what you got, which would be a very slow writer/ heavy procrastinator in life, where a lot of people are too.


	20. The Greatest Sin: Ruka

This is dedicated to Ruka's POV.

DISCLAIMER: I didn't want to Realize my ability of knowledge. This was so I would never need to know that I did not own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

_The Greatest Sin_

Life was a beautiful thing, when you weren't cursed with a kind of eternal life that let you outlive most of the world's population. I once thought my life was a beautiful thing when I was born. I began doubting it when Akiri seemingly killed Mikan before Natsume's very eyes. I stopped believing it when I met another girl who belonged to the larger part of the world's population, but asked me to Turn her, to change her into the monster I knew myself to be. And it was all for the sake of her best friend, Mikan, who carried the entire world within her blood.

I watched as Hotaru sat in the corner of my office, typing speedily on a laptop. The sheer drop off the side of the Alice Corp. building appeared not to have fazed her at all, or at least her recovery from the shock was faster than most others of her kind could achieve.

"You know there's no other way," she said evenly, as if discussing an every day issue. And I see that recovery from being Turned, from what you tell me, will take around a week, which means I should be well enough by then to take the interview if we do it today."

"No. I still need to discuss this with Natsume before we try anything. I'm sure they can make exceptions when your ability is already so profound."

"I know they did something to my brother when they took him away, something to make him physically capable of carrying out the burdens that brought him to the AAO today. If we don't waste time and-"

Bam!

"How do you know I can even do this!" There was an explosion of papers as Ruka lost his temper and slammed his desk, though the wood held strong. "Do you understand the self-control it takes to accomplish this act? I can't…I can't do it without something going terribly wrong, so ask Natsume to Turn you, not me."

"I see…" Hotaru turned her face towards me then. An emotion somewhat familiar to me flashed across her face…was it…disappointment? But it was gone before I could fully discern what it was. "Why? Why is it so hard for you and not for Natsume? There's a reason why you're an assistant manager isn't there? Your Realization is also considered rare amongst your kind. Control is a requirement for your position and power. Ah…!"

I heard her give a small gasp as I pressed her up against the wall. Did she know that just from being in the same room as her, hearing her heart beat, blood rushing through her veins, and seeing that blank, emotionless face of hers, was enough to drive me to the limit? "Our kind avoid feeding on human blood as much as possible, but you make me want to change the rules." I whispered in her ear.

"Then do it. Isn't Turning someone the same as devouring them whole?" She shifted her body from beneath me. Unknowingly, her small movement sent violent shivers throughout my body. "Ah…" She gasped again. Did she feel it too?

I pushed away before she finished her next breath. "I'm sorry. I…you…" My face should've been dyed red by now. Pushing away helped little. I felt her touch as if she were still there. _Go away before you ruin your life, little girl, before you end up hating me the most._ My mind and heart told me to push her away, but at the same time, my body didn't want to.

"Your actions don't speak for your words. You _want_ to do this."

"Yes I do!" my temper flared again, something that was a rarity in itself. "But not to Turn you, to _eat _you and leave _nothing_ behind."

"But you haven't."

I wanted to shake some sense into that stubborn girl. "Yes, I know, because I haven't tasted your blood yet. And once I do..." I closed my eyes, seeing the very thing I feared in my mind's eye. She was no longer human, no longer anything, just an empty shell, and _I_ was the one who did it to her. Natsume must've gone through these same thoughts countless times with Mikan.

"Then you think Natsume could do it without killing me as well?" She snapped. "Wouldn't you rather do it yourself as self-assurance?"

"Why should it matter who Turns you?" I bit back at her, though I regretted my words right then. My heart gave a sudden lurch as I pictured in my mind Natsume's fangs sinking into her tender neck, hishand pushing her further into his bite, and knew it would be nearly impossible to stay in the same room to watch it take place.

"I think it does matter. You say you're in charge of me then act the part. And if anyone else found a foolproof way of following through with a plan, they wouldn't hesitate to do it."

"I refuse to Turn you until we talk to Natsume…" I paused when I heard the sound of footsteps coming down the fire exit, however they didn't stop, much to my relief, and continued on down. And, at the same time, my throat constricted when I realized that the very thing I'd been trying to avoid was here.

"What's wrong?" Her voice sounded wary.

"Nothing. We can consult this with Natsume now." I was halfway in reaching out and taking hold of her hand to pull her along before I remembered the incident that took place three minutes ago. The wish to kiss her then was too strong. I flinched away too late, however, when my fingers ghosted over hers. The heady feeling that shot between our fingers nearly overwhelmed me.

"I'm coming with you, this concerns me as well." Her voice was firm, but I could still catch the uncertainty hovering beneath. This time I knew she felt something, though hers was probably of a lesser degree.

I was surprised, as I let out a shuddering breath and fought to calm the muscles in my hand. Such small physical contact with this girl and I was already fighting for breath. I kept my back to her as I headed out the door. It was fortunate, for if my eyes had met hers for even an instant, I wouldn't have held back.

Oo

.

.

.

Mr. Misaki led her briskly down the neat, prim hallway, Mochiage following closely from behind. He was still sulking a little from things not going quite his way.

"Well, Misaki-sensei, where are you taking me?"

"To see the high-school principal." He replied shortly.

"Hey…you said you'd give me a rundown! And all you've told me so far is the school's name!" Mikan said indignantly. "Can't you at least tell me more about our high-school principal?"

"He's considered special, even among us, that's about all the words I need to describe him."

"Hmm, that's pretty special then."

"You're here for a reason, Mikan." His voice softened at those words.

Mikan paused in her rant to peer curiously at him. "What reason?" She asked, as if he wasn't about to tell her.

"You're a little different from most other people, which is what all the other students and teachers in this school have in common with you."

"What do you-"

"He means you're not human."

"Mochiage!" Misaki grimaced at the boy's choice of words.

Mikan came to an immediate halt and she whipped around, eyes alight on the boy before her. All the stress and fear and self-disgust she'd held inside herself for days was being focused in this one moment. She launched into a heated tirade of her fury. "I've always eaten regular food like any other human on the planet, I'm energetic during the day, and I never had any amazing powers. I have a grandfather who's still waiting for me to come home. And now, not too long ago, I find out that I eat blood too. I find that I can heal faster, I have better eyesight, everything! I've woken up once in an old warehouse and then here. A week ago, I was living a human's life and now, all of a sudden, I'm a stupid monster! I don't even know _what_ I am anymore." She sucked in a deep breath, trying to quell the frustration and anger boiling in her chest.

"You're not _completely_ human." Assured Misaki, throwing Mochiage a stern look. "It's been proven that you are both human _and_ of our kind as well."

"Proven?"

"You were tested for any enhanced senses. You did, but not to our extent. You were given a special serum to test your immunity to human medicine. You fainted, which meant you didn't have a full embodiment of our blood."

"I see," she mused. "Then I'm not _that_ bad…but, Misaki-sensei, I… I killed someone." She waited in anticipation when Mr. Misaki didn't reply for a while.

"I don't know what happened, but the most likely scenario is self-defense. Your body may have assumed that it was physically in danger and so a natural instinct that we all possess was activated. I'm saying this because you don't seem like the kind of person who could kill without a conscience."

Mikan was taken aback by his words, but before she could utter a word of thanks he turned quickly and continued down the hallway. "Hey! Wait up!" Mochiage gave a sigh, then followed suit.

"Yukihara-sama. Mikan Sakura is here." Misaki bowed, while trying to inconspicuously get Mikan to copy him.

She needed no other urgings. Placing the word "sama" after a name meant the person possessed high power and ability. And it didn't help that, moments before meeting the High School Principal, Mochiage told a few stories about students that was called to his office and never came out again. Mr. Misaki dismissed this brusquely, but Mikan noticed that he didn't deny it. Her stomach began to fill with butterflies.

Now the butterflies were growing to a roiling flock! "Good-Good day Kouchou-sensei." She stuttered. Principals weren't called simply sensei, as their status greater than the average teacher. She fervently chanted in her mind, _don't say anything stupid, don't say anything stupid!_ "My name is Mikan Sakura and I want to go home!" The words were out before she could bite her tongue and she went red with embarrassment as Misaki nearly gaped at her boldness…and apparent foolishness.

"Is that so?" His voice made her stomach squirm. It made her feel cold like a dark winter's night.

"H-…hai." She confirmed shakily. It was completely intimidating to have any kind of conversation with this person!

"What Sakura-san is trying to say right now is that she wishes to know more about her current situation in this school and what this school specializes in. I could only tell her so much and her situation is, in fact…different from others."

"You may leave and take the boy with you. He needs to continue patrolling the corridors. Hayate has broken loose again."

Misaki bowed once more before leading Mochiage out with him.

Mikan was alone now and nothing about the situation seemed funny to her in any way. If anything, she wanted to turn around, run, and never come back.

"... received them?"

"My what?" So intent was she in her thoughts, Mikan failed to hear most of what the Kouchou said.

"Your books." His voice remained level. Mikan couldn't tell if it meant he had patience or he was just really good at hiding it. "Have you received them yet?"

"No. I…I don't even know where the classroom is!" Mikan nearly stamped her foot in her sudden frustration with the Kouchou, with Misaki, with the world. It was practically the middle of the school year and her grades had always been something she wasn't very fond of. "What lesson are they on? Is the schedule the same? How will I catch up?"

"Stop."

Whether it was the authority the Kouchou held or her tendency to being easily shocked, Mikan didn't know. It was probably a mixture of both. Upon hearing his simple command, she ceased panicking and her muscles relaxed. Did he have some power with his voice? She wondered this, but the notion was put off through the Kouchou's next words.

"You're very obedient for such a loud-mouthed girl."

"Hey!" Mikan realized, after her outburst, that her butterflies had disappeared. The Kouchou looked so intimidating, yet…she sensed a sort of warm aura hovering just under the cold front he held. Something tugged at her, telling her this suppressed aura was familiar. After all that had happened already, it wouldn't have surprised her if she'd actually met the Kouchou before in some previous life. She could name at least two who probably had. She heard a cough and looked up to finally notice the small stack of books placed on the desk before her. For several moments she gazed at them, as if it was her first time seeing anything quite like it. In truth, she really hadn't. The material of the books' cover was already hinting at a price she did not dare name. Her eyes were wide when she asked the Kouchou tentatively, "How much are these?" She realized she had no money, none at all. And her paycheck wouldn't be coming in until the end of the month, though even then it wasn't enough to even last a week.

"The circumstances surrounding this school are special, though the schedule is only slightly different from what you would normally expect. The core classes will be the usual, Math, Science, Language, and Physical Education. You may choose your electives and clubs. There should still be a few available."

"Wait." Mikan shook her head a little, trying to soak in everything at once, thinking about all the preparations that should've gone into something like this. There appeared to be no tuition fee and there were rooms where students could sleep in. The place was probably a boarding school. It accepted students that were like her, even in the middle of the school year! "Does my grandpa know about this, about me going to a new school? Will I get to see him again?" Somehow, in the back of her mind, where dark thoughts most often lay, she suspected that, no matter what the Kouchou said to her, she would never be allowed to do so.

"No." Though she expected that answer, her heart still throbbed with dismay. As for giving up on the idea, however, she wasn't planning on being put off by that simple word.

"Fine," she huffed. "Then if that's it, I'll be going!" She walked halfway to the door before she realized something. Turning around, her cheeks feeling warm, she walked back to her original spot and gathered up her new schoolbooks into her arms. "May I have my schedule?"

Wordlessly, the Kouchou handed a sheet of paper to her. "Choose your electives as you wish. Leave it under the door of your room when you are done and someone will come pick it up."

Mikan took the paper from his hands while precariously balancing her books. She gave a small smile despite her disappointment in the way things went. She doubted if the Kouchou would tell her anything more than what was absolutely necessary. The same would go for Misaki-sensei. She fumbled open the Kouchou's door and gently closed it behind her, hoping she could find her room before she ended up walking halfway around the world.

As she was walking back, she thought of Nobara and Mikan's smile grew slightly. Now _she_ could tell her something more about the students, more about what she was. There was enough time. She had until tomorrow before her classes were finalized and she would meet other students that were just like her, but, even then, she was still different. The thought saddened her for a moment, like many other things that happened recently, but before it could manifest any further than that, she spotted Nobara.

She was standing in front of one of the few windows in the hallway. Mikan had been too intent on finding out more from Mr. Misaki to spare a glance.

"Mikan," Nobara smiled at the girl who'd jumped at the mention of her name. Her friend still needed to familiarize herself with people who heard approaching sounds more easily than normal. "How was it?"

"You got to tell me more about this place. Misaki-sensei promised to answer my questions, but it still isn't enough."

"Of course. And when you fill out your electives, please consider Home Economics. I'd really like a cooking buddy." Nobara blushed lightly at what seemed like a bold request.

"Sure! Then let's consider that our deal; you give me answers and I'll make stuff with you!" Mikan held out her hand and the other girl shyly reached out and shook it.

"Deal." She said quietly.

"Deal!"

As the two girls walked side-by-side back to their room, they didn't notice the small figure watching them from a distance through the window of an adjoining building.

Oo

.

.

.

"Go ahead."

"…_What_?"

"He said, 'Go ahead'."

"I _know_ what he said! I just don't know _why _he's actually _fine _with this!"

I was never one for fits or tantrums, but I was dangerously close to throwing one right now. I gritted my teeth. _Natsume_. _You stupid, stupid…!_

_ "_Most people in this building have our blood in their veins, her best friend has half of it, her brother became one of them, and now she's the only one left. What difference does it make if you Turn her?"

"I…" I tried to explain, but whatever small shred of pride I had in myself floored my tongue. There was no way I would bring myself to tell my best and closest friend that I was-

"He's too chicken to do it." And Hotaru went ahead and took that piece of pride, dropped it, stomped on it, and then kicked it into the gutter.

"You-!" I was halfway in unleashing my frustrations on her when Natsume snorted.

Much to my disbelief, he began to laugh. And it mortified me to see that it took him nearly a minute to stop. When he regained composure, he said calmly, "I believe in you, Ruka. And I trust you, more than you think I do. Don't look so surprised," he smirked at my reaction to his words. "If I didn't think you could do it, I wouldn't be 'fine' with it at all. In fact, I'd fire you for even thinking about it." And I knew he meant it.

"Thank you," I said, finally, after several minutes of a lapse in discussion. "But I'd like some advice too for…well…I've never really Turned anyone before so…" I knew I should've paid attention during those lessons my parents assigned me years ago. Then I wouldn't be scrambling for directions like I was now!

"Find a secure place to carry out the task. The process takes, on average, three days. Two of the days are usually used for feeding blood to strengthen the one Turned. If the process is rushed in any way, you'll end up with someone like Akiri, whose strength was at its peak at his Turning, but diminished as he grew older."

"For those that are Turned and not born as one of you, is there anything that distinguishes the two?" Hotaru appeared curious, perhaps even more than curious as she had a small notepad out at the ready.

"There is no difference, as it all depends on the person. Some of the Turned can become stronger than a born one. We all have abilities that we Realize. That's supposed to take a century to achieve, but some develop more quickly than others. You seem capable of Realizing your element in half that time or perhaps you already have it and Turning you will be like opening a door to see it better."

"Interesting analogy," Commented Hotaru. "I believe the latter should be the case with me."

"You seem confident." I snapped, my nerves still working on the idea of rushing the process and ruining Hotaru's life.

"I am." She said shortly. Then she turned and right before she could take a single step, I demanded,

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Home. It's 6:39. I have to watch the latest TV Star mess up in some stupid variety show."

"Wait." I turned and nodded once to Natsume before following Hotaru out the door.

"Hold on!" I tapped her shoulder as she was getting on to her bike. "The process takes three days remember? So why not do it tomorrow?"

"I'll call in sick tomorrow for school. We'll do it early in the morning."

"Six."

"Five."

I scowled. "Five thirty." She was halfway down the street when I realized that we didn't have a set place. "Wait!"

"What now?" Some irritation had found its way into her voice as she turned around on her bicycle seat to face me. I liked it.

"I'll send you an e-mail with my address. Remember to check it."

"Whatever." She replied in an accurate imitation of Natsume. Then she faced back around and kicked off to peddle briskly into the distance.

I watched her until she was no longer in my enhanced line of vision. Why_?_ I wondered. Couldn't she find her own way home well enough? _Because they know where she lives._ I stiffened at the thought; now there was even more reason to Turn her. At least, if she gained the enhanced strength and speed symbolic of our kind, she could protect herself when I couldn't protect her…if I couldn't…protect…When did this happen? I began walking to the underground parking lot where my car was parked, a headache threatening to build up in my already disordered mind.

When did she begin to matter more than anything else?

* * *

A/N:

Hoho, a whole summer without updates! Silly me!

I hope you have enjoyed this new addition to the piling chapters of Just Another Bloody Secret!

And, until next time, さよなら！


	21. Usagi Academy: Mikan

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gakuen Alice.

Hello! And enjoy. Mikan's POV.

* * *

Usagi Academy

I stood with my mouth hanging wide open, watching all the students chatting and fooling around in front of me.

It was absolute chaos; there were wind-up toys on the ground and tables, walking around as if they were alive. There was blue chocolate, half-eaten, lying on one of the desks. Books zoomed by so quickly through the air that they were a blur, hitting unfortunate students in the back of the head. And was that a…boy flying up there too? There was no way I had class in _here_. Maybe I took a wrong turn somewhere.

But my hopes were disappointed when a timid man practically crawled through the mess of students and greeted me with disheveled hair and a light smile. "You must be Mikan!" He expertly ducked to avoid a lethal encyclopedia, despite his clumsy look. "Welcome to Usagi Academy. I see you have all your books." He sidestepped a murderous rogue novel. "I'm sorry about this. This isn't how new students usually are introduced. Please forgive me. I'll have the class ready soon."

"No, wait, Mr…um. You really don't have to." I absolutely refused to stand in front of this class! Or even let them know I existed. Why oh why did Nobara have to be in a different classroom?

"I am Fukutan-sensei, homeroom teacher of Class B-agh!" His poorly timed greeting was cut short when a small, but incredibly fast novel flew into his shin.

"Fukutan-sensei!"

"You should've just stayed in your room." I turned to gaze indignantly at the speaker. It was that nasty boy Mochiage. I should've known things would take the turn for the worst and land me in a class full of people I didn't know and the only person I _did_ know in some way or other was a complete jerk.

"Oh yeah? Well I'm not afraid of you!" But it was the wrong thing to yell. No sooner had the words left my mouth did I feel a fierce grip on my arms and legs roughly tugging me up, higher and higher, until my feet left the ground!

I yelled again, only this time in surprise and at the sinking feeling I felt in my stomach that usually came with freefalling. "Put me down! Put me down, you jerk!" The rest of the class hardly paused in what they were doing, simply continuing to chat amongst themselves, focusing hard on a textbook laid out in front of them, or staring listlessly out a window. Things like this might have happened everyday for all I knew. I noticed only one girl and one boy had actually turned their heads to take a good look at me. The girl had a sneer, her face framed with curls. The boy had on a pair of glasses and sad, worried eyes, though he hardly budged to do anything about it.

"Who are you?" I turned my head to the right only to see a pair of wide eyes peering at me from a distance of one inch. My brain cancelled on me and it took a second for the fact that he was hovering besides me to register. Did he _enjoy_ being lifted against his will?

"She's wondering about you, Kitsuneme," Another voice piped up from the ground and I whirled around to see a perpetually smiling boy. "She's wondering if you like being lifted by Mochiage."

"I'm not being lifted by him at all!" Kitsuneme said matter-of-factly, as if I was _supposed_ to know that. "I can fly you know. I don't need Mochiage to lift me."

"It's true," The smiling boy agreed emphatically with his classmate. "We all have unique abilities that we call Realizations. Can you guess mine? Oh! That's correct."

I shut the mouth that was about to say my answer.

"She wants you to put her down now, Mochiage." He said cheerfully to the slant-eyed boy.

"I think she already said that, Koko." I was getting tired of this, of Kitsuneme's practicality, of Koko's annoying Realization, of Mochiage the jerk, and of the craziness that this entire morning had simply been drowning in since I stepped out of bed.

"Watch out, Mochiage, she's angry now."

"Like she can do anything about-"

"That's IT! I'm done! I've HAD IT!" I felt something stir inside me, a suction-like feeling that reminded me of a plunger being pulled out of a toilet. It wasn't pleasant, yet it felt as if I'd dislodged something that had been stuck for the longest time. I felt a sudden wave of nostalgia and, in that same moment, Mochiage's hold on me lifted. Then a kind of whoop-for-joy excitement filled me for the split second before I fell.

Everyone went quiet. And were as still as elephants cornered by a single mouse.

I landed in a graceful fashion, which was still shocking, as I was liable to trip on air less than a week before. Everyone stopped talking and turned to look at me almost all at once. The wind-up toys that had been walking around earlier had fallen down and the flying books were lying everywhere in a mess. I heard a low whistle and saw Kitsuneme looking at me widened eyes from where he'd fallen.

"My toys!" squealed one of the girls sitting next to the one who liked to sneer. Then again, they all looked like girls who sneered.

"Uh…um…Class! Please welcome our newest student, Mikan Sakura!" Fukutan-sensei announced, his glasses askew, with the worst timing in the world. I clapped my hand on my eyes in embarrassment. _Maybe if I can't see them, they won't see me. _I thought despairingly.

"That wasn't bad, Sakura." Was that a _compliment_? I looked in disbelief at Mochiage.

It was short-lived, however, once the girl that liked sneering spoke, "That's nothing special! I bet she can't do it again even if she wanted to."

"Now Sumire, be nice." Fukutan-sensei scolded lightly. He straightened up slightly and began restoring order in his classroom, something he should've done five minutes ago. "Your classes will be starting in ten minutes. Get ready for Tonochi-sensei!"

Everyone suddenly looked several times more enthusiastic as they began picking up the books scattered around the floor and straightening up their desks. The blue chocolate I'd seen earlier was immediately thrown into a trashcan.

"Wait! Where do I sit?" A boy emptied the table in front of me and began walking away to throw away his load. "Hey those are my books!" I made to chase after him, but then a girl slipped a rug out from right under me! "Hold on I was still standing on that!" I thought about how all this chaos was for Tonochi-sensei. "Who is Tonochi-sensei anyway?" I murmured under my breath as I fought my way through the rushing tide of students. A helping hand unexpectedly grabbed me by the sleeve, pulled me out, and placed my recovered books into my arms.

A slight boy with overly large glasses stood shyly in front of me. "Tonochi-sensei is our social studies teacher. We have him everyday at this time. He's really nice, though he's nicest to the girls."

"Why is that?" I asked.

Before he could reply, however, Fukutan-sensei began ushering students as best as he could. "Class! Please! Go to your seats. Tonochi-sensei is here in five minutes!" _Poor Fukutan-sensei_. This time I could feel some sympathy for my homeroom teacher. _He really isn't fit for this job. _

Tobita took one look at his scrambling classmates before turning back to me, "Like I said, he's very popular. My name is Yuu Tobita by the way. But you may call me Iinchou. I'm sorry I didn't help you earlier. As Class representative, I should've been more assertive. Please forgive me."

He looked so apologetic I wouldn't have denied him anyways. "It's alright. I'm fine. You don't need to put on that face. Besides, I managed to stop them didn't I? Well, I might've stopped _everyone_…"

"Just be careful with your Realization. You need to work on controlling it and learn to use it in appropriate amounts-"

"What's _your_ Realizing thingy?" I was curious as to see what this gentle looking person was capable of.

"Realization." He corrected me politely. He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again his pupils were slit and a glowing red had bled into his natural eye color of light brown. "On your shoulder, there's a flower blooming. It's bright orange and very lovely."

I blinked a couple times before I realized he was being serious and I looked. "What…how? This is amazing!" I reached for it, but it dissipated once I tried touching its petals.

I looked back at him to find his eyes looking searchingly into mine. His voice was somber as he spoke, "As much as I wish a real flower can appear on your shoulder, mine is only an illusion." He looked unhappy about it and I tried to sympathize with him. But I couldn't.

"What's so bad about illusions? I think it makes much more sense than having an uprooted flower on my shoulder." I _liked_ his power, so beautiful compared to mine.

"No, no, I wasn't trying to say that I didn't like my ability. I just wish I could let you touch the real thing, although you are right about the flower. It would be better to have a potted one instead, though I suppose you probably wouldn't like having something so big sitting on your shoulder."

I imagined myself crushed underneath a large potted plant and could see his logic. "No, probably not."

Iinchou turned to go to his seat and I was about to follow him when the sneering girl cut me off.

"This is _my_ seat. Go somewhere else!"

"Hey!" I was indignant when I turned and walked away to find another seat. To my horror, the only one left was next to Mochiage.

"Looks like the newbie is more pathetic than she looks." Sumire whispered loudly into Iinchou's unwilling ear.

"Stop it, Sumire," He replied in an equally loud whisper. "You don't have to be so jealous." The effect was worth it, even though I heard an audible thump as Sumire dealt Iinchou one on the arm.

"Shut up!" She hissed before she settled into a silent pout. Though I kept a straight face as I went to my seat, I was laughing on the inside and gave props to my new friend.

"Ohayoouu!" Came a cheerful voice from the doorway and I found my gaze lingering on the young and incredibly longhaired teacher that had stepped into the classroom.

"Ohayo, Tonochi-sensei!" The class chirped back.

The air suddenly began to fizzle with an unseen force. It entered my body as the room filled with the strange sensation and I felt something warm in my belly like hot tea. I surged with energy and looked around to see if anyone else felt the same thing.

No one even batted an eye.

I turned to Mochiage. "Can you feel it?"

He kept his eyes toward the front of the classroom, "That's his Realization. Amplification, though I'm not sure if you even know the word."

I huffed at his slight as quietly as I could.

"What's this? A new student! Would you care to tell me your name?" Tonochi-sensei's voice was louder than I anticipated when it was directed only at me. My gut managed to roll once before I answered him.

"Sakura Mikan."

"Is that so? You've come rather late into the semester so I'm afraid you'll have to do a bit of extra reading to catch up. But other than that, please allow me to take care of you." His last few words were only meant for politeness. Nonetheless, my cheeks burned. "Now everyone take out your books. Mikan-chan, that would be the one with the samurai on the cover. Chapter five. Meet with me after class to get the material you missed."

"Yes, Tonochi-sensei." I sighed softly to myself. School, no matter where it took place, could always find a way to be stressful. For the first time that day, I found myself thinking about what I left behind outside the school walls, Hotaru, Ojiisan…Natsume.

I hid my face behind my book so I could hide the sudden stinging in my eyes. I missed them, more than I would ever tell anyone.

And I knew that if anyone did find out, I could never get away from this place.

"I'm here for my extra materials, Mr. Tonochi." The classroom was emptied before I brought myself to approach my very popular teacher.

"Oh yes. This is the schedule from our first semester. If you need help in catching up, please come talk to me." He gave me a wink before packing up his own things to move on to his next classroom.

I thanked him and I turned to leave when he called my name and I looked back.

"Mikan…I mean it when I say that you can come talk. If you ever need help…of any kind." His look was sincere and kind and something in my heart told me to trust him.

"Sure, Tonochi-sensei. I will." I smiled my best for him before walking out the classroom and closing the door behind me.

How could I forget? I wasn't doing this alone.

On his way to his next class, Akira Tonochi was deep in thought. He was so occupied that he almost ran into Hayate Matsudaira, the English teacher.

"Hey hey! Watch where you're going, you blind long-haired freak!" The man was a looked a little too crazy for a teacher at work.

Tonochi clapped a hand in exasperation to his forehead. Hayate was always a little too open with his words. "Hayate. Control that mouth of yours. I don't want the students to hear a teacher insulting another teacher like that. It's just bad form."

"Well I'm not the one walking around with his face up in the air like you." Hayate gave a wide, fanged smile.

"I heard about the incident today. You took off your earring again didn't you?"

"I hate that damn thing! It makes my ear all itchy and I can't ever concentrate on teaching."

"So you decided to endanger a quarter of the student body by placing yourself in a potentially destructive situation?"

"Hey! I thought I could hold it for about a half hour, but I guess I was wrong. I promise! I won't do anything like that again."

Tonochi sighed, knowing Hayate's tendency to be all talk. "Whatever, Hayate. You should be glad that certain people don't curse your stupid hide."

And then Tonochi knew he'd made a mistake when Hayate's face darkened.

"Don't even mention those bastards in front of me," he growled savagely. "I'm only here at this school for the students, not them. They can do what they want, but I don't want to even think about them if I can help it."

Tonochi wrenched him forward by the collar at that point, his eyes feral and pupils slit. "Remember you fool, before you make it worse for these students you want to protect." He brought his face close to the other man's. "Remember that you work under those same people you hate so much and if any of them hear you saying things like this, you won't be here to protect those kids anymore."

Hayate was quiet for a while, which meant he was at least processing what Tonochi had said to him. "Yeah. Yeah I know." He gave an empty laugh, his cat-like eyes dulled just slightly. "I'm not that stupid, you know? Stupid Tonochi, always telling me what to do."

"You have Sakura Mikan in your next class right?"

"Yeah. I already know about that one. I heard she already had her first kill, one of Persona's men. Early bloomer I guess."

"Hayate." Tonochi was serious when he said it. "She may just be older than you and I, though she definitely doesn't look it. I saw the results from her physical. She is diagnosed to have only half our blood and her birth can be dated back more than 200 years, although for some reason she hasn't aged since that point." Actually telling Hayate this out loud made Tonochi hear how it sounded ridiculous even to his own ears.

"Oh!" Hayate didn't look phased in the least, even though it seemed as if he really did believe Tonochi's words. "I guess that changes things. I suppose you never heard the legend, huh?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Tonochi gave his co-worker a raised eyebrow. "I don't have time for legends."

"But some really are true. Have you ever heard of the Realization of Longevity?"

"Perhaps. So you're saying that Mikan acquired that ability and then happened to _forget_ that she had it?"

"How am I supposed to know what really happened? I'm just an English teacher. See you later, pretty boy Tonochi. I'm almost late for class."

Tonochi rolled his eyes, but he waved Hayate off anyway. "I'm getting to the bottom of this," he vowed quietly to himself. "There are enough secrets in this school to last several lifetimes."

Oo

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I bounced up and down on my squeaky bed out of sheer boredom. P.E had just finished and I really had nothing to do now but lounge around and bounce the day away.

Nobara was sitting in front of a new squat table that must've been brought in when I wasn't here.

"And how were your classes today, Mikan? Did you enjoy our economics class together?" Nobara's cheeks were very pink when she turned away from me.

"They were boring." Nobara looked back with saddened eyes. "No, no! I didn't mean our cooking class! That one was fun, although I think the teacher probably hates me now since I accidentally set her chef hat on fire."

Nobara gave me a smile and I calmed a little. For a moment there I thought the poor girl was going to burst into tears. "I'm glad. I had fun too. Did Sumire give you any particular trouble?"

I thought about the trashcan incident where I tripped over something that hadn't been there before. "No, not really. I've had worse at my old school."

"You mean the human school?"

"Yeah."

"If you don't feel like telling me, you don't have to."

When I actually put more thought into it, I realized that maybe it wasn't so much the bullying that I was trying to remember, but whom I went to school with. Hotaru. And my eyes got that stinging feeling again.

"No. It's not like that. I mean, I was bullied, but I mainly remember the person who was always by my side during those times. Her name is Hotaru and she isn't here right now. And I…" _I miss her. I miss her so much that I want to scream. _

"Oh Mikan." And then I was suddenly bundled up in Nobara's arms. She was cold at first, but then my warmth transferred to her body and we began to share body heat. "You can cry if you want to. It's just you and me here. No one else is watching. It'll be okay."

At first, I fought to keep them back, but they eventually broke through and my cheeks became wet as I gripped Nobara tightly to me, like I would fall even further apart if I were to let go.

Oo

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Nobara was wrong. Someone had been watching them.

The man peering in through the girls' window had had his hand on the doorknob, ready to come in silently and shock the inhabitants of the room. The white mask was the most eye-catching part of the man's outfit.

Persona, or known by a rare few as Rei Sergio, hesitated at the door when he saw the two figures inside.

Nobara. What was she doing comforting someone else like that? Had she ever shown him that side of her? Perhaps. His mind brought him back to the first time they met, several years ago, when everyone else had backed away in fear of the strangely dressed and imposing man, whose reputation preceded him greatly. She had been the only one to approach him with an outstretched hand, smiling shyly at him like she didn't understand the word fear. Maybe she didn't fear him, for he couldn't remember a time when those eyes ever became hateful in any way.

Darling. He often called her that in front of others. But did it ever mean anything besides just a name? His darling.

His heart shuddered for the first time in his life in a way Persona was unprepared for and he grasped at his chest to grip the front of his shirt in surprise. He was beginning to feel irritated just by seeing the scene before him. His temper was rising and he wanted to break the two of them apart, separate them.

Let the girl cry alone, he thought coldly, though his heart shuddered once more and he wanted to pound the door in frustration. This shouldn't be happening! Not to him!

His hand moved of his own accord and he wrenched the door open, completely startling the two girls inside with his presence.

"Rei!" Nobara spoke his name, perhaps involuntarily, but she seemed to realize her mistake when she covered her mouth with one hand.

"You!" The other girl, that Sakura girl, looked more surprised than angry at his intrusion on their sweet moment, but he really didn't care right now.

"Nobara. I thought I put you here so you could observe the girl, not play sisters with her. Don't tell me you've already forgotten the plan?" He hissed. His terrible side wanted to see her cry, see her break down, and tell him how sorry she was and what a fool she'd been. His better side wanted something close to that. But what he got instead was an unfamiliar defiant look in her eye. There was something different about this girl now, he noticed. Was it because of Sakura?

Nobara stood up, motioning for Mikan to stay where she was. Truthfully, her emotions were in conflict, but she knew that either way, she needed to talk to Persona about this issue alone. She surged forward and the two of them were gone and out of sight, fast enough for a rush of wind to push back the hair from Mikan's disbelieving face.

Nobara closed the girl's bathroom door behind her and locked it, her back facing the man whom she had known and trusted since a young age, indicating that she believed he wouldn't attack her even with her guard down so low. Suddenly, two hands slammed down on either side of her head and she felt his breath on her neck, raising the hairs.

"What do you think you're doing, Nobara?" He demanded her smoothly. It was bold of her to try this. Maybe he'd underestimated her all this time.

"I'm making certain things clear and answering your question." Nobara didn't turn around when she said this and Persona felt a little cheated that she didn't have to look into his face and tell him.

"Look at me." When she didn't turned immediately he went to her ear and breathed, "I want you to look at me so I know you mean it." He saw her body shiver and he gave her a mocking smile. Her body was so much smaller than his, so easy to take advantage of. How could this frail girl ever protect anyone else?

When she finally did turn around, she did something else that surprised him enough to make him freeze up when she did it. Her delicate hands reached up to grip both sides of his mask, an action only he himself had ever done. His entire body stiffened from the shock. The gesture felt intimate, enough to make him suddenly hyperaware of everything about her such as her uneven breathing and her heightened pulse. He could smell her own uncertainty at what she was doing, but sense the resolve she had deep inside her heart.

When she finally took off the mask, she whispered, "I want the stakes to be fair. You need to look at me too." And, although she had seen him without his mask a few times, the sight of his eyes left her in awe from its close proximity. He had such intense eyes, more so than any other person's she had ever seen, even more than Mikan's.

"I haven't forgotten the plan." Her voice nearly caught in her throat, but she continued on. "But that doesn't mean I will go through with it anymore."

"So you're betraying me?" His voice was soft when he asked the question, but Nobara heard the danger behind it. Her eyes became sad and she shook her head no, but Persona was relentless. "If you don't do as I say, then you are betraying me."

"If you put it that way, then you are only fooling yourself. I'm not a little girl anymore. I wouldn't betray you just like that. I…" Suddenly, Persona's hand was around her throat. And although he put no pressure, the threat was there all the same. She closed her eyes; it wasn't out of weakness, but to show she wasn't afraid of him, though he could hurt her easily.

The grip on her throat tightened, but Nobara refused to open her eyes. She trusted him with her life. And if he chose to end it, she would accept his choice. But then Nobara suddenly remembered the girl waiting for her back in their dorm room. If Nobara were to die, then the girl would be left alone in that room, like how Nobara herself was until only recently.

"I'm sorry, but I can't die yet." Her voice was kind when she spoke, but firm. She reached up to gently touch Persona's gloved hand and he removed it like he'd been burned.

How dare she touch him like that! Even though it was only skin on leather, the contact sent a sensation up his arm that wasn't entirely unpleasant. Was he losing his mind? He wanted to laugh until everything became a joke and the unstable ground he was standing on righted itself again.

And then he suddenly felt hair touching his cheek and the mildly wet kiss of a young girl on the corner of his lips. His body froze at that point and Persona knew he had lost this battle. She really wasn't a child anymore, like she said.

Nobara, her insides numb, deftly unlocked the door behind her and slipped out without a sound. Her hands were shaking by the time she was almost to her room, having a hard time believing what she just did, and then discovering that she still had his mask. She slipped it discreetly into her pants pocket before returning to Mikan.

Persona held out a hand to steady himself as he moved rather ungracefully towards the door. He was halfway in opening the door to let himself out when he realized that he no longer had his mask on. And then he supposed that he really didn't care.

Oo

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Sumire was pushing and shoving as she fought her way to salvation. She had been holding it in for the past five hours and this next one was an hour too long! By the time the girl's bathroom door was visible, Sumire swore she would explode into bits and pieces any second.

Almost there!

She raged past a woman just coming out of the bathroom. It was only later that she gave any thought to the way the woman was dressed so strangely and had smeared black lipstick across one corner of her lip. She shuddered at the possibilities and decided that it was better to leave certain questions unanswered.

* * *

A/N:

And so concludes another fine installment in the Bloody Secret novella!

Throw whatever you want at me. I'll take it.

Like I said, this story isn't abandoned, but it's struggling to be remembered, like Mikan's memories and the truth behind it all.


	22. Buffering: Hotaru

DISCLAIMER: i don't own gakuen alice and i will write this disclaimer all in lowercase letters so i can reduce my embarrassment at admitting the truth.

This chapter is dedicated to Hotaru Imai. The events in this chapter take place a few days before Mikan wakes up in the Academy, when Hotaru is scheduled to be Turned.

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Buffering

It was exactly five hours, thirty-one minutes, and twenty-three seconds into the morning when I was finally admitted into his house.

I began our greetings by insulting his house. "I was expecting some place much bigger. Just what do you do with all your money?" His house was surprisingly non-gothic, much to my disappointment. After all, he was of European descent and one would've assumed that there could've been some indication of European culture in the design of his home. My expectations were satisfied only after I entered his two-story home and observed the house's interior western styling.

Ruka reacted indignantly to my insult concerning his house, just as I planned. "Hey, I'm letting you in and I even went out to buy some food you humans like to eat so much. Couldn't you at least show some courtesy?" He gave me a stern look, which then changed into a more wide-eyed one. "Please?" He reminded me of an overgrown puppy.

"Sometimes I wonder why I wasn't the one born into your race instead of you. Your personality doesn't seem to fit the image your kind has given you throughout history."

Ruka sobered up after I spoke those words and I felt like rolling my eyes. Why did this serious side of him always come up when discussing this topic? Although he was a different species, it was inaccurate to label his kind as vampires because of the weaknesses they shared with humans. What was called immortality may have simply been a tendency to live longer than the average human before one made a fatal mistake and was defeated by nature. And perhaps there was a world within nature that governed the existences of creatures that were beyond human understanding.

Whatever the truth was, it didn't change the fact that I had only recently come up with a solution to possibly all our problems. It had taken at least one hour of brainstorming in my laboratory back home to think up a less-messy alternative of passing the Usagi Academy interview. However, I had to admit that my idea was only a hypothesis, an experiment that had never been enacted before, thus leaving the calculable success rate a question mark. Nevertheless, I had some confidence that I could get around the small factor of becoming permanently dependent on blood.

"I have an idea." I interrupted Ruka before he could open his mouth again to speak. I swept past him and let myself into his house. It looked comfortable enough, but I would have to remind myself to give him a few tips on furniture after I was finished telling him about my theory.

I walked over to the serenely white couch in the middle of his living room, which also served as a welcoming room, and occupied the seats with my Bottomless Bag. I rummaged around; the bag was an accessory still in its first stages of testing, which was the reason why the user ended up taking more than a few seconds to find the things they needed. What I was looking for eventually met my hand.

Ruka was approaching. "And this is why I worry about you offending all your interviewers, almost no manners at all. What are you up to- WHY ARE YOU HOLDING A SYRINGE?" Ruka shot back faster than any child I had ever seen trying to run away from their yearly immunization shot. His back hit the wall.

I looked calmly at the needle in my hand, then at Ruka, then back at the needle. I lifted an eyebrow. "You're scared of this? You?"

"I had an unfortunate run-in once with a needle, as you can clearly tell. And I really don't want to be anywhere near that thing."

"I think you broke your wall."

Ruka peered behind him hesitantly only see an indent in the shape of his torso. He gave a low growl. "I can fix that later. But whatever it is you're going to inject into me is not going to go away for a while unless I bleed it out!" He appeared adamant about his conclusion.

"I'm not going to inject anything," I said plainly. "I'm going to _take_ from you instead." My words received an unexpected blush from Ruka's cheeks.

"Amongst my kind, the word _Take_ has other meanings. It's…used between lovers so please…use a different word."

I felt like doing something to give him a push into reality. Everyone interprets words differently. "You're going to _donate_ some blood to me and I'm going to inject the blood into myself so _you_ won't have to handle the needle at all." I decided to go ahead and tell him the rest of my plan. "My hypothesis is that if I inject myself with your blood, I might be able to pass Usagi Academy's interview without having to permanently change myself into one of your kind. And if my experiment is successful then I can begin observing how long the effects last."

"And if you don't? What if this kills you?"

I could tell he was only trying to warn me about the idea, but he also looked like he really was considering the possibility.

"I'm sure it won't. And if I don't change back, then at least you don't have to exert yourself through trying to Turn me on your own."

He gave me an unreadable look. I looked back with as calm a façade I could muster. Not even someone with abilities like Ruka would stop me from my experiments. I was usually correct 97% of the time anyway, except for when I hadn't foreseen Mikan getting…

"Hurry up then. Let's please get this over with as quickly as possible. I'm going to endure this just for you so be grateful."

"Thanks." I said dryly. I walked to where he was sitting elegantly on the couch, looking as relaxed any other person. He wasn't looking even the least nervous even though I was approaching him with the one thing that had resulted in a dent in his wall shaped just like him. "Stay still." I warned him despite his calmness.

"Don't worry. I will." He wasn't looking at me when I sat beside him and poised the needle directly above his wrist. I couldn't see any veins. But I wasn't about to be deterred and brought the needle closer, before finally began making an attempt to get it through his skin. However, I had forgotten an important fact. His skin was more resistant to wounds than the average human and my needle was stuck right on the surface of his skin. I pushed down harder, but to no avail.

And then he grabbed my hand, just tight enough so I could still keep my grip on the syringe.

"Our skin tends to be thicker than yours'. The veins usually aren't visible, but you can insert a needle in anywhere and still draw blood. When you get our powers, you'll need to use this much strength in order to cut through our skin. You will need to remember how much force I use. This knowledge can keep you safe when you enter the academy." He raised my hand up slightly and then plunged the needle with deadly accuracy, speed, and strength into his wrist.

Flecks of blood landed on my cheek.

I watched the blood spilling over his wrist and on to my lap. He was making such a mess everywhere.

"I'll get a napkin." I said quietly.

"Are you trying to talk your way out of this? Go ahead. _Take it_." He nearly hissed his last two words and I avoided his eyes. They were probably a deep red. He was just trying to unnerve me, trying to intimidate me from completing what I set out to do.

I drew enough blood to fill the entire syringe chamber. My hands did not shake. He would not shake me; I was calm. And then I pulled the needle out and moved it so that it was poised over my own wrist.

"Hotaru." And the tone of his voice sent shivers down my spine.

I didn't hesitate. "And this is how much force is needed to break _my_ skin." And pushed the needle into my vein. Then I fed Ruka's blood slowly into mine.

I didn't feel anything special. There was no sudden surge of pain, nor any spasms indicating a seizure. Ruka's blood was simply absorbed into mine without any immediate side effects. With this new piece of information, I stood up to put the syringe away-

And crumpled to the floor because my legs were suddenly unable to hold me. But I didn't touch the ground. He caught me.

As I lost the ability to focus on my surroundings, the last thing I remembered was being held in a pair of strong and strangely warm arms, something I didn't think a person who had lived for several centuries could ever possess.

Oo

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"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. You STUPID-!" Ruka roared before kicking the door to his bedroom open. "GIRL!" For once he didn't give a damn about the door.

If only Natsume could see him now. His friend would probably wonder where the previously gentle and effeminate Ruka had gone. He had gone wild and unstable. But then again, Natsume wouldn't have to wonder at all because if Ruka had a choice, he'd walk up to Natsume right now and slap him hard enough across the face to break his cheek! Why did that insufferable friend of his have to put him in situations like this?

However, he reminded himself that he was the one who had allowed the girl to inject herself with his own blood and he mellowed down. How could he ever truly place the blame on anyone else? He cursed himself for the way he felt deep inside his own mind. He was actually relieved that he hadn't had to Turn anyone and the things happening to Hotaru now would not be permanent. That was _if_ he put any faith in her hypothesis.

She began to struggle against him.

Ruka immediately placed her down on to his bed. If that girl ripped a single one of his silk sheets…he probably wouldn't do anything to make her pay him back. His mind stayed on this thought as he took out a collapsible chair and set it up beside his bed to keep watch over the girl who had just made an attempt to test her own experiment on herself.

For an incredible genius, the girl could be so stupid sometimes. But then again, maybe it was useless to try and change that about her.

"Ruka."

He leaned forward without hesitation to hear what she was trying to say-

He hissed in surprise at a sudden pressure against his abdomen. Blood seeped through his torn coat and shirt, but there was no pain. The only thing thought passing through his mind was the revelation that Hotaru was already developing the speed and strength of his kind even as she slept. As he stood up to change out of his damaged clothes, Ruka couldn't help but smile in small disbelief to himself.

He easily discarded the ruined pieces of clothing into a corner of the room. On another day, he might've sought revenge on someone for doing something like that. But he was just about forgiving the girl on his bed for every little thing she did.

Ruka knew these changes in his usual behavior would eventually come back to haunt him. This girl was going to become his weakness.

Hotaru groaned again and turned in her surprisingly uneventful sleep, fingers dripping with his blood. Would she really have such a hard time surviving in his world? She was proving herself capable of it again and again.

Perhaps it was just as possible that she could be his strength.

He walked out, then came back, a towel in hand, and lifted Hotaru's hand up to wipe away the blood.

Ruka had expected a lot more thrashing and screams of pain and agony, but it looked like she was going to be fine and maybe even wake up in just a few hours.

After he was finished cleaning up the mess on Hotaru's hands, he sat back down on his collapsible chair with an audible sigh to himself, shaking his head at the absurdity of his life. Now all there was left to do was wait and see the outcome of Hotaru's theory.

Oo

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I was immersed in Ruka's memories. They filled my mind with a sensation like a cup of water pouring into my ear. And then I was _there_.

Ruka stood, with his back facing me, in front of a closed door. We were in Alice Corps. I heard faint voices coming from inside the room.

"Have we met before? I mean a long time ago. I know this is a stupid question to ask and probably one that seems impossible, but I feel like I've known you for years or something." The one speaking was Mikan. I could only assume that this was probably when her memories of the past began to resurface.

Natsume was about to answer, "You-"

"Natsume, Mikan-chan! I'm back with the food!" This must've taken place more than a few days ago. I watched as Ruka interrupted Mikan and Natsume's conversation by walking in with several orders of takeout. But before anyone said anything else, the memory grew insubstantial and began to blur until a new scene came into focus.

It was snowing. A younger Natsume was kneeling in the middle of a bloody clearing, tears streaming down his eyes. I saw part of Ruka's face this time, his cheeks pale as snow and eyes just as cold. It was like the emotion had bled out of them. The clearing was silent as a graveyard.

"Ruka…" Natsume's voice startled me out of my own thoughts. I looked over to Ruka and saw that he looked as if he'd just woken up as well. His eyes were no longer cold. "She's never coming back is she?"

His words haunted me even though I knew what happened in the future. The scene began to blur and change before me. Ruka said something, but his voice was lost to the dying memory. Right before the memory ended, however, Natsume's words pierced through loud and clear.

"Then I will wait. For as long as I can." His words continued to echo and followed me into the next scene.

I was standing in an impressively sized room. The style was distinctly French. The furnishings, however, reminded me of a child's…I was turned sharply when I caught sight of a small form in my peripherals.

A small child sat listlessly by a window with a clear view of brilliant green fields. Despite the beauty outside the small, dull-eyed child hardly glanced at the scenery outside. Who was this person before me? I could hardly recognize Ruka as he sat there before me. I was so overwhelmed, in fact, that I spoke to this memory version of Ruka.

"Wake up, little boy." I said it quietly, too softly to be heard by a normal person, but I was always too quick to forget just how abnormal Ruka was.

"Hotaru." Ruka was suddenly looking at me. There was no other conclusion I could come to. I was the only one there and he had spoken my name. I had wanted a reaction and the Ruka in a memory had just replied back.

If I were Mikan, I would've yelled at the top of my lungs and leaped back several feet. But, true to my nature, I blinked twice. It was enough, however, to properly display my utter surprise.

"Hotaru. I'm already awake. You're the one who's asleep." He gave me a toothy smile, just like how a well-groomed little boy should.

"Yes. I know that already…" I decided that if I was going to show any appreciation for him I was going to do it now. "Thank you for giving me some of your blood for this experiment. I think it's going well."

"No problem. Just make sure you tell me that when you wake up." Ruka winked at me, which caused me to blink several times again. I suddenly felt my heart thump. What was this incredibly uplifting feeling? It didn't take me long to identify what it was.

The young Ruka was completely adorable. If I had my camera…but I waved the thought off. Save that for later.

"I like you, Hotaru." I didn't blink this time. I just stared. Maybe if I stared long enough I could fully understand what this boy was trying to tell me.

"Just don't ask me about it when you wake up." And he suddenly stood on the tips of his toes and kissed me once on the cheek. Before I could react to the kiss, however, the memory began to fall apart all around me and Ruka stepped back as if he knew what was happening. As the ground dissolved from beneath my feet, he continued to smile at me even long after I had disappeared from his domain.

I woke to the sound of my name. And it wasn't until I heard it a second time that I realized I was being called.

"Ruka." I blinked uncertainly. The light in the room was too bright. "Have you observed any changes to my body?"

"Just be careful not to bite through your own lips. Those who are newly turned often have that problem."

"So my experiment was a success." I didn't have to sit up to know that Ruka had placed me on his own bed. The animal posters decorating the room were enough of a hint. "Now we wait and see. Perhaps more than one dose will be needed…" I made as if to get up from the bed.

All of a sudden, Ruka gripped my arm tightly. Judging from the amount of pressure he used to grab me, I could only assume that he no longer needed to hold back any strength. The other me would've cried out in pain as bone shattered from the power of his grip.

"You were struggling in your sleep, though you didn't make a sound. Did you feel any pain while you were asleep?"

I considered telling him about what I saw and decided that there really wasn't any reason to hide what happened from him. "No. But I saw you as a child." I looked for any visible reaction from him, but there was none. "I received a few of your memories. Your blood most likely triggered a replay of them in my dreams and I saw a few."

"Did you see anything else?" He asked it offhandedly, but this time it wasn't hard to tell that he was nervous about the answer.

I held nothing back. "You interrupted Natsume, right before he told Mikan the truth. You had at least four boxes of takeout." Ruka looked away in embarrassment. "I saw…I saw Natsume crying. It was snowing." I trailed off for a moment, but I took Ruka's silence as approval for me to continue. "And the last memory was one of you childhood memories." I unexpectedly felt blood rush to my cheeks and I tried in vain to look away. Unfortunately, Ruka saw and he had to ask.

"What did you see in that one?"

"I…" I cursed myself a thousand times in sheer embarrassment. I suddenly couldn't find the right words! "I…I talked to you in that memory. And for some impossible reason you answered back. And…you told me…" I was so intent on thinking up a way to finish my sentence that I didn't notice when Ruka first brought his mouth close to my ear.

"It's alright." He breathed into my ear, causing me to flinch, much to my chagrin. "You don't have to tell me now."

"Good, because you _yourself_ told me not to tell." My words threw him off, but he recovered a little too quickly for his own good.

"Are you hungry?" Although the way he could change the topic so quickly irked me, his question made me realize that I truly was feeling empty in the stomach, though I supposed it was only natural. And then I began thinking about the nature of my transformation and why I hadn't Turned only half-way since I assumed I would still have human blood somewhere in my veins. Did injection cause all the blood in my body to be temporarily replaced by Ruka's?

"Yes. I'd like something to eat." And much to my inner horror, he offered his neck to me.

"Take as much as you want, I have more animal blood in the fridge."

"What," The look I gave him was dead serious as I said my next words. "Do you think you're doing?"

"Giving you what you need." His eyes were suddenly piercing into mine, as if daring me. It wasn't the look of a gentle being, but of a predator.

"If I drink your blood, it may affect how long I stay this way and I won't be able to collect data for my schedule."

"Then you have until the end of this week, which is in three days." He hid his expression from me as he turned away and stood up from the chair he'd been sitting on to watch over me. "I'll prepare the animal blood for you in the kitchen. If you don't eat, you won't last long enough to change back." And it was only when he'd left that I noticed a discarded coat on the floor in a corner of the room. It had a large tear in the front and the edges were seeped in blood. Why hadn't I noticed the obvious smell of it when Ruka was still in the room? But the question answered itself when I concluded that the blood on the coat was none other than his.

I landed gently on to the clean wooden floors of the disappointingly non-gothic house. I looked back up to the place where I'd jumped from, simply marveling in the small feeling of achievement I felt just from being able to jump from a height where I would've normally broken at least one leg. I knew I would need to be careful of doing things like that in the future because it wasn't impossible to turn back into a human right in the middle of a particular leap.

"You took longer than I expected." His back was facing me when I entered his spacious kitchen. The counters were made with man-made marble. Pure marble was actually rougher and lacked in luster compared to the kind made by men. Humans. But when one of them temporarily became a different evolutionary species…

I confessed this uncertainty to Ruka. "I don't know what to call myself anymore. It doesn't feel right to say I'm one of your kind or call myself a human. Tell me, what am I?"

His voice was sympathetic when he spoke to me over his shoulder and I began to feel a low anger simmer in my stomach. "I can't tell you to get used to it because you'll be changing back soon anyways, but just leave it for now. If you have to think about it, remember you're just a human ingeniously pretending to be a vampire…well maybe I should say creature. The legends and superstitions that come with that label are barely correct."

He didn't have to tell me that. I already knew they could still bleed like every other living creature on the Earth. "I'm sorry for ruining your coat." I said under my breath, before seating myself in front of a single glass of deep red liquid placed on the table for two in Ruka's living room. The reason for the small table was probably because Ruka hardly received any visitors except maybe Natsume. Or people like me.

"I can always buy another one." Ruka dismissed it like it happened every day. Maybe it did. "But," He turned to face me and I saw his pupils were slit. "A life isn't so easily replaced." His last word was whispered in my ear as Ruka was suddenly behind me.

He shocked me, though I gave no outward sign. At the same time, I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that he had moved so quickly and, even with enhanced senses, I could not keep track of his movements. Was there such a gap between our abilities simply because I had only done an injection and not been truly Turned. Or was it because Ruka already had decades of experience?

"Your hypothesis was a little too loosely based on chance. Experiments tend to have a higher failure rate when that's the case. I don't know why I let you do it."

I picked up the glass and drank it down calmly. Not bad. It was a little gamy in taste, but otherwise satisfied the emptiness in my stomach. "You let me do it because you trust me. And I also happen to be the maker of the Baka Gun series so I'm sure I could've persuaded you if things _didn't_ go my way." My glass was out of my hand and in the sink right as I finished my sentence.

"Your interview is on Sunday. If my blood still hasn't worn off yet, then take another dose just in case. You wouldn't want to shock your interviewer with the strange sight of a vampire turning back into a human." He shot a smile at me over his shoulder. "That would be unfortunate and then I'd have to kill your interviewer to get rid of any witnesses. I'm being serious about this." He could've at least made an effort to appear more solemn, and the smile threw everything off, but it didn't make his message any less effective. "I hope I won't have to resort to those tactics. So be a good girl and do your best. I'm sure you'll get in." He turned back to finish drying the glass that had only recently held the blood of…something not quite a natural born animal.

"What kind of animal did the blood come from? It doesn't taste like the blood of a regular animal."

Ruka didn't turn back this time when he answered me. "That's because it's Tanuki blood."

I was quiet as I digested this new bit of information.

"There are plenty of them around Japan, enough so that their numbers won't diminish due to our hunting."

I spoke up then. "You speak of superstition as something untrue, and yet you talk about Tanuki blood like you can just get it right off the street. How much of our society's legends and myths are true? Even Science wasn't enough to penetrate certain truths and realities behind the creatures of this world." I shuddered at my own words. It was hard for me to admit that Science may have failed humanity in some cases. It was, after all, a subject that I had invested much of my time in.

"Why have you transformed my home into your laboratory?" Ruka sounded mildly irritated as he inspected my handiwork on a large area of his house, which satisfied me to some extent. Good. Let him stew.

"I am working on a back-up plan in case something goes wrong either at the interview or after I get in to the academy. I might have to make a run for it and, although my pursuers may be fast, they tend to underestimate humans. Hopefully, once I estimate the overall time limit for the effects of your blood, I won't have to resort to my back-up plan."

"Of all the places to put your little experiments, you decide to build it in the middle of my living room. And right in front of my TV!" He looked for a moment as if he were contemplating the forced removal of my possessions. But even if he was still stronger and faster than me, I had a better chance in resisting him now because of his blood, which was ironic.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you. You might step on something unpleasant."

Ruka twitched backwards and then he turned around. "I'm going to my study room. It's in the basement. And it's there because that's the biggest space I have in my home. Please don't make any jokes about it."

"I don't joke." I replied seriously. Then I watched him walk away for a few moments before I suddenly couldn't stop myself from remembering what the Ruka in the memory had said to me and I added, "And…I think I like you too." I turned away quickly so I could hide the returning heat in my cheeks and the morbid embarrassment in my expression. He probably didn't hear me.

Oo

.

.

.

Ruka kept walking until he had closed the basement door behind him. And then he leaned into it with a shudder. Did she know he heard her? Her words had sent wild spikes of excitement into his chest. He laughed shakily to himself.

"You _think_ you like me? Who says it like that? And when did I ever say I like you first?" He shook his head in disbelief. He continued speaking to himself as he descended the steps. "But you don't love me." Then he smiled.

_Yet._

* * *

A/N

Okay. Forgive me. There I said it. Now I hope you enjoyed reading.


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